Cuban Theater Digital Archive

Buffalo Garden: All Over Again

In 1996 I met a family of recent Cuban political exiles who relocated in Buffalo. This middle aged couple and their children carry with them all their cultural background and beliefs. Both are an initiated priest and priestess of two very different Afro-Cuban traditions. Our encounter was a pleasant and emotional experience. We met during the Buffalonian winter season, so far from our land of origin. Every conversation was held against the snowy winter background that convered every garden and backyard of this city.

For me, it was extremely important to observe how their practices and beliefs were challenged, adapted, and transformed by their new environment. As an artist, it was a mirror in which I could see myself. Any new place we go to as immigrants offers new opportunities, and at the same time suppresses part of our cultural selves.

The same thing happened 400 years ago when African slaves began to arrive in Cuba. They had to adapt to new surroundings and rename reality all over again. Happiness, then and now, is taking a long walk along the path of adaptation and depends on our capacity to survive, assimilate, and transform our cultural environment.

Using this encounter as an inspiration, I decided to update the Afro-Cuban mythology with new, fresh, suitable elemnts from American culture. All sorts of obstacles; such as scarce budget, limited time, and lack of traditional worship objects, were accepted for the realization of this work as the prevailing conditions which are part of my new environment. Each Orisha or diety is a mandala, an orgaizer or life giver, to a new meaning. Each one represents an aspect of nature and of human psyche. Each God or Goddess has a preferred color and a particular domain in human affairs. Just like in any other mythology, the deity expresses itself in the established relationship among different objects.

Leandro Soto

Visual Artist