Although the work of contemporary Cuban artists has been recognized by many important museums and curators around the world, as a result of the decades-long Cuban embargo, it often remains a mystery to most Americans. Curated by F. Lennox Campello, Aquí Estamos brings to Projects Gallery and Philadelphia recent work by several important artists working out of Havana, as well as Cuban artists from the Cuban Diaspora. In this traveling exhibition, Campello presents narratives and imagery ranging from historical dissidence to the stark issues of contemporary Cuban life, offering a glimpse into an island nation with a powerful world presence in the arts and the events of world history.

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons escaped from Cuba in the early 1990’s and had a solo exhibition at MoMA before she was 30. Recently the subject of a retrospective at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, she uses her image and body to deliver powerful biographical and observational elements of the realities of being a black Cuban woman in America; torn between her love for her new home, her angst over her lost Cuban homeland and her dreams of her African roots.

Kcho (Alexis Leyva Machado) is also considered by many to be among the leading Cuban artists in the world, with work that explores migrations, the sadness of living and the reality of an island nation with major international issues. This will be his initial debut in Philadelphia.

Both Cirenaica Moreira and Marta Maria Perez Bravo employ their bodies as canvas for their photographs, although each with a different goal. Moreira has been called “woman as vagina dentata” for the ferocity of her depiction of themes of loss of freedom, feminism, and being a Cuban woman. Perez Bravo is considered by many to be the pre-eminent Cuban female photographer in the world; and her work addresses the fabulous rituals and images of Santeria, the unique Cuban mixture of Catholicism and African religions brought to the island by African slaves.

Sandra Ramos explores themes such as racism in her homeland, the physical and intellectual drain caused by mass migration and other austere realities of daily Cuban life. Other artists in the show include work by Roberto Acosta Wong, a former member of the acclaimed San Alejandro Art Academy in Havana and Aimeé Garcia Marrero, a young Cuban painter and digital artist considered by many to be the new leader of her generation. Additionally, the show will include Several Cuban artists represented by Projects Gallery:  Alejandro Mendoza, known for his cruciform sculpture, Alex Queral, who carves individuals from phone books, Angel Ricardo Ricardo Rios presents paintings based in the sensuality of form, and Ramon Williams, who creates mixed media digital prints.

Aqui Estamos will be on display May 1- 30, 2009. There will also be an artist reception First Friday May 1st from 6 - 9 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. Curator F. Lennox Campello will also give an artist’s talk Friday May 22nd at 6:30 pm to expand on the issue of Cuban art and answer questions. The engagement is also free and open to the public.