Abel Barroso b. 1971, Pinar del Río, Cuba; lives in Havana, Cuba Embassy Game, 2016 Xylograph on wood
Abel Barroso, with scathing irony, turns a handcrafted pinball machine
into a metaphor for the hazardous journey migrants undertake to the
borders of a developed world. As in an obstacle course, the uneven
dynamics of the game are built on a labyrinthine, tortuous structure
that leads the way through fragmented, disjointed spaces (full of
partitions and walls). The work shows the impact of physical barriers
and mobility restrictions imposed on diaspora communities, derived from
power relations evident in their peripheral realities. At the same time,
this sculpture refers to the stress, isolation, and uncertainty that
accompany these unpredictable migratory processes.
A graduate of the Instituto Superior de Arte in 1995, Barroso is part of
the generation that began practicing Cuban engraving in the 1990s,
renewing the woodcut technique in three-dimensional objects in which he
combines engraving and sculpture.