Above: Eddy Aquilles Cortada (Xavier Cortada’s uncle) painting in Miami in the early 1960s.
“There are four small flower paintings next to mine in the CLIMA exhibit.” said Xavier Cortada. ” They were created by Eddy Aquiles Cortada in Miami in the 1960s.  Eddy was born in Nuevitas, Camaguey (Cuba) on February 19, 1935.  In 1961, he was detained by Castro’s thugs. A year later, in 1962, he and his younger brother (my Dad) left everything behind and started a new life in Miami.  They fled Cuba as Political Refugees.  All our family lives in Miami. In time, due to sea level rise, my Dad’s progeny will have to do as he and Eddy did: Leave all behind and flee Miami as Climate Refugees.”

Xavier Cortada, “Open Garden | Fruta Bomba,” charcoal on canvas, 6′ x 18′, (2014)
The work, inspired by Cortada’s interaction with Cuban artists during his stay in Key West, is to depict a series of fruits falling upon the the island of Cuba. Each fruit– the product of a flower– represents the fruits of an open society that will come to Cuba when it is finally free: a thriving economy, equal justice for all, rule of law, free and fair elections, freedom of assembly, speech, worship, and travel, human rights, etc.  Closed societies, like Castro’s Cuba, created a mass exodus of political refugees who settled in South Florida.  In time, their descendants will need to flee the peninsula.  Its rising seas will close in on them, make them climate refugees.

Xavier Cortada, “Cultivo una Rosa Blanca,” sublimation dye on fabric, 72″ x 36″ (2014)
In creating 2014’s “Cultivo una Rosa Blanca,” Cortada used a white rose he had painted ten years earlier for the Painted Cuban Plane and Freedom Luggage Installation.

Xavier Cortada, “XII. Rosa,” sublimation dye on fabric, 72″ x 36″ (2014)
In creating “XII. Rosa,” Cortada used a white rose he had painted in his 2000 work titled, “XII. Paredon“