“When I use certain ephemeral or poor materials in my work, I do it exclusively to highlight by analogy the precarious world in which the black person has been forced to live, what we have inherited from slavery, how we live, what are our dreams.” - Juan Roberto Diago
Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy (born 1971), a Cuban mixed-media artist based in Havana, draws on his Afro-Cuban heritage to confront racism, enslavement, and cultural resilience through assemblages of reclaimed materials like wood, fabric, metal, and found objects that evoke scarred histories and revised narratives of identity. Grandson of modernist painter Roberto Diago, he blends painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation in series that symbolize wounds, resistance, and spiritual affirmation, earning national culture awards and international recognition at biennials in Venice and Havana. His work, featured in collections like the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and Cisneros-Fontanals Art Foundation, challenges societal silences on race while asserting the vitality of maroonage and African diasporic legacies.