Vicenta Aquila Borges put out her good bedspread after she saw the paintings in her bedroom. The hand-sewn fabric circles crocheted together like jewels in a net play nicely off the art by Alberto Casado. He has painted crumpled aluminum foil with deep translucent colors that sparkle and shine.
The art is part of an exhibition of paintings, sculpture and installations by seven artists. The show is called Esta es tu Casa Vicenta (This is your House Vicenta) and it fills almost every room of the house, which, like many Havana houses, is neat as a pin on the inside and so tattered on the outside that it looks as though it might have been bombed. In this show … there is an … element of surprise that comes from the house itself, says the exhibition statement. The exhibition is a dialogue with Vicenta and her house.
At 81, Vicenta has lived in this house for 55 years, although it wasn't hers in the beginning. She came here as a servant to a wealthy woman. Vicenta says people had told her the woman was difficult, but that she always treated Vicenta well.
After the Revolution, Vicenta stayed on to help the woman, even though she had lost all her money and could not pay Vicenta. The woman died not long after, and, under revolutionary law, Vicenta got the house. She continued to earn a living washing clothes, but she has an elegance and dignity a queen might envy.
Vicenta says she enjoys having the exhibition in her house because she loves being in the center of things and having people visit if they act decent. She loves the artists and all the activity they generate.
Pamela Ruiz produced the exhibition, which ran for two weeks during the Havana Bienal. Although the exhibition was not an official part of the international art show, it was one of several independent shows that ran during the Bienal and attracted the Bienal audience.
Pamela Ruiz, an American producer married to Cuban artist Damian Aquiles, got to know Vicenta and her house because she lives nearby. The house is an exhibition with or without us. … It has its own history, says Pamela's statement. Here in Vicenta's house, we have been invited to play in a museum.
This article appears in Apr 19-26, 2001.