Manitoulin Island represents at Cuban festival

Holguin, Cuba ­ A formerly unadorned wall in the thriving town of Holguin, Cuba now displays the distinctive outline of Manitoulin Island surrounded by First Nations clan symbols and floral motifs. The 27 by 15 foot mural stands as a vibrant testimony to the artistic revolution taking place on this once isolated island nation.
Artist Michael Cywink, a member of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve, the Aboriginal Curatorial Collective and the Aboriginal Arts Administrators group, recently participated in the creation of the colourful mural in Holguin (pop. 300,000). It was all part of the 15th annual Romerias de Mayo Festival, an event that draws over a thousand young intellectuals and artists from all continents plus all the Cuban provinces to a marathon week of cultural exchange. This year's festival ran from May 2 to 8 and served as a preamble to the World Young Artists Festival slated for 2009.
The Romerias de Mayo concept came into being in 1993 when a group of young artists decided to organize a venue to share their diverse artistic endeavours. Since then it has evolved into an intense week of activities involving musicians, artists, dancers, writers, actors and researchers. Workshops began early each morning and delegates took part in conferences, symposiums, expositions and stage shows until well into the night.
The 2008 gathering captured the imagination of Cywink when he received an invitation from Alexis Triana Hernandez, president of the organizing committee.
"We summon artists from all over the planet to be here for our World Festival of Artistic Youths," she wrote. "We believe your work will suit the purposes of the festival. You represent a culture almost extinct among us; only a few Aboriginal descendants remain despite what has been done to preserve their culture, which has several features common to your own Aboriginal origins. By working with those descendants, the people of Cuba and the artists from other countries participating in the event, we will defend our common Aboriginal culture."
The rugged mountainous region known as Holguin is famous for a park and statues commemorating the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492. When the Europeans explored this island it was part of the Great Maniabon Indian territory. Historical plaques at Holguin symbolize the meeting of European and Aboriginal civilizations.
It was a challenge Cywink could not ignore. He has made it his mission to relate the history of the First Peoples wherever he travels. So when he was also urged to speak at the "Our Memory" (Memoria Nuestra) theoretical event as well, he determined he would "speak on my experiences defending my culture and passing this cultural knowledge on to the new generations."
He started approaching sponsors for the once in a lifetime adventure in Cuba and before long he had the support of the Wikwemikong Heritage Organization and the Canada Council of the Arts.
The festival organizing committee covered all the lodging, food and transportation costs once he arrived in Holguin.
Since the first few days of the festival are devoted to tradition, Cywink decided to design a wall mural featuring woodland floral images and dodems which are representative of the Anishinaabe of the Great Lakes. It was his sincere wish that "this cultural sharing may help bring the history of the Anishinaabe into a clearer international vision and help unify the vision of the Indigenous people partaking in this event."
Needless to say, he had his work cut out for him as a cultural ambassador. To some of the Cuban people he appeared as somewhat of an exotic visitor with his long hair, eagle feathers, bear claw and deer hide accessories.
"The Cuban perception of Canada is that it's all ice and snow. Many thought that I was an Eskimo; they thought I came from Alaska or the North Pole. They had never had an Eskimo down in Cuba before," he laughed.
Naturally, the "Canadian Eskimo" was regarded as a celebrity and attracted a great deal of media attention. He was featured on Cuban national television several times, he reported. But once the mural project started to take shape, there were many opportunities to dispel stereotypes and educate viewers about Anishinaabe heritage.
"I helped them overcome many misconceptions," he said. "I showed them some traditional art such as breast plates and deer hide. I told them the history of the Ottawa people and I talked about pre-contact before the Europeans came to Turtle Island."
Throughout the exchange, he worked with Juan Carlos Anzardo and Nalia Martines Grau, two senior master muralists plus Ibrahim Ambar Richardo and Yail Parras Guerra, two students from the local art academy. To facilitate communication, interpreters Aniely Fernandez Torres and Maikel Ballester Gutierrez assisted Cywink in guiding the brushstrokes of his apprentices.
First they put a layer of ochre on the wall and then they applied blues and reds over top, he explained. Slowly an archetypal Great Lakes scene emerged with the shape of Manitoulin Island in the centre surrounded by flowers and strawberries. The outline of the island melts into an iconic representation of the water spirit as a wolf peers out from a backdrop of towering evergreen trees. Nearby a majestic deer and moose survey their domains amidst a knot of cat-tails. Hand prints placed on the wall earlier are transformed into bear paw prints.
"This was the first time a mural was completed at the event," he noted. "It took us three days. It was quite a challenge, but we had interpreters to help me convey the stories and the spiritual interpretations of the symbols. We had to work in stifling heat so a lot of the work was done in the evening when it was cooler."
Before his departure for home, Cywink presented copies of his publication "The Adventures of Crazy Turtle" to Alexis Triana Hernandez, the provincial director of culture of Holguin and to Abel Prieto, the national minister of culture. And since it is traditional for participants to present a flag and a soil sample to their hosts, Cywink gave his Cuban counterparts a Canadian flag with Manitoulin superimposed over the maple leaf. "I was not representing Canada," he said. "I was representing the First Nations."
The Canadian delegation to Holguin was the largest group at this year's festival, he indicated. A contingent of artists from Concordia University in Montreal was especially well-received, he said.
He speculates that Cuba still has strong bonds with Quebec because former prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau was a staunch ally of Cuban president Fidel Castro.
Now that he's home and has had a chance to reflect on his time in Cuba, Cywink is eager to return for the World Young Artists Festival next year. He plans to take some young artists from the Manitoulin area with him.
He sees much potential for an "island to island" exchange involving theatre, art, research and writing.
"There's a lot of respect for Canadians in Cuba," he said. "It was a real eye-opener for me and I want other artists to see just how amazing it is to leave Manitoulin and journey to the salt water island they call Cuba."
"There is a revolution going on in Cuba and it's with the arts," he concluded.
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