MIRAGE, 2021.

Mixed media on paper

In a silent sea of headlines and half-truths, two towering figures stand within a paper boat — one real, one shadow — bound together by a delicate red thread. Suspended between them, an ancient cauldron hovers, neither boiling nor still, suggesting the alchemy of power, propaganda, and performance. One figure wears a painted smile, perched on stilts like a marionette master of ceremonies. The stripes of his pants echo prison bars or circus tents, blurring the line between spectacle and sentence. His shadow, faceless and austere, mimics his pose — a darker twin or a ghost of intention — mirroring his gestures, but with none of the theatrics. Beneath their feet, a collage of clippings — political headlines, cultural fragments, and media noise — rise like smoke from a smoldering narrative. Spanish and English phrases clash and converge: “La elección de Trump,” “El Castrismo no es Cuba,” “CURTAIN CALLS,” “500 aniversario de La Habana.” These remnants are both stage and script, supporting the figures like fragile scaffolding over shifting truths.

This drawing is not a moment frozen in time, but a question etched in graphite: Who pulls the string? Who casts the shadow? And in whose pot are we all being stirred?