PROTEST ART

RUBER OSORIA

// A year ago the young Cuban photographer Ruber Osoria, who migrated from Cuba to Chile on a long and wearying journey, walked through the streets of Santiago de Chile with his camera, capturing the art and slogans of rebellion painted on the city walls during a time of social upheaval in the country.

Finding himself involved in photography was one of the best experiences that have happened to Ruber in life, it has become a lifestyle, it has given him social recognition and admiration for society, and he considers it his mental therapy. “My goals in photography are still unclear, I think time will tell, for now I continue working and educating myself in this wonderful art,” he says.

“ART IS THE PETRICOR* OF “InSILIO”**, WHEN THE SLOGAN IS COMMUNISM OR DEATH.”

Ruber Osoria

* “petricor” = the scent of rain after a prolonged dry period
** “insilio” for Cubans means the opposite of exile; the way to mentally travel without leaving the place.

What draws you to the arts?

“What attracts me to art is its purity, its freedom, the most sincere thing that one can touch, feel and imagine.

Art makes me feel like a fictional character created in my mind, it makes it concrete, it is something else. I stop being a simple maintenance worker and I become a photography artist, art is my drug, my lover and my judge.”

What impressed you most about these murals?

“What impressed me the most about these works was the ability of these young artists to create a neutral and understandable language for everyone, and to turn a city as hectic and chaotic as Santiago de Chile into a huge museum, a memorial museum, live and directly.”

During the social outbreak that occurred in Chile in 2019, with that wave of demonstrations, an artistic revolution also stood up and said present, whose main showcase was the walls of the different cities of this long country called Chile, various stickers, stencils, photographs, graffiti, pictorial muralism

It was the other side of the coin, ehrn the artists began to reflect through their work everything that was happening around them, a peaceful accusation with a disturbing message, clearly addressed to the State. In these striking artworks we are faced with women, children, dogs, saints, accusing bleeding Christ figures, messages of women´s rights, depictions of the violent repression that took place. There are exhortations to rise up, to resist. Although the messages are written in Spanish, their intent is quite clear even if you do not speak the language. According to Ruber, these creations constitute “the first museum of the social outbreak”.

“Art is a double-edged blade; governments know the power of art,” he adds.

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