CUBANEO
PRESS RELEASE
Acclaimed exhibition by Western Massachusetts-based artist Mark Guglielmo travels to Cuba for the first time
NORTHAMPTON, MASSACHUSETTS, August 25, 2025 — An homage to the people of Cuba by Western Massachusetts-based artist Mark Guglielmo, Cubaneo is an acclaimed exhibition of 18 large-scale photo-collage portraits, interviews, and field recordings highlighting the lives of everyday Cubans on the island. Since 2017, it has traveled to 5 museums and galleries in the United States. This fall, it will travel to Cuba for the first time, where Guglielmo will mount it at El Museo Histórico Provincial de Cienfuegos from November 8, 2025 — January 15, 2026.
The opening reception will be held on Saturday, November 8th at 10:30am. Along with an artist talk, there will be a series of community conversations held in the museum, free and open to the public, aimed at bringing the artist and his work in conversation with local Cubans, including on Monday, November 10th at 10:30am with teachers and alumni of Guerrillero Heroico Elementary School, and on Tuesday, November 11th at 10:30am with professors and students of the Benny Moré School of Art. While in Cienfuegos, Guglielmo will also begin a collaborative project with renowned Cuban artist Vladimir Rodríguez Sánchez, a close friend whom he met on a previous trip, which they plan to present at the next Havana Biennial. Springfield native Glenda Lopez will also make the trip and serve as Guglielmo’s assistant.
To create this project, Guglielmo visited Santiago de Cuba, Baracoa, Havana, Viñales, Cienfuegos, and Trinidad de Cuba on three sucessive trips to the island between 2015 and 2017. While there, he photographed and interviewed local Cubans he met on his journey. Each collage measures 5 to 12 feet wide and was handmade by taping together hundreds, sometimes thousands, of individual 4x6-inch photographs. Neither a computer nor Photoshop was used. View a selection of the artworks here. Culled from dozens of audio interviews the artist conducted in Spanish, Guglielmo recorded diverse Cuban voices and perspectives.
In June 2017, Cubaneo debuted at A.P.E. Gallery in Northampton, Massachusetts. Curated by Waleska Santiago-Centeño, it quickly became the most attended show in the gallery’s 45-year history, with over 3,500 visitors in 26 days. It then travelled to Boston’s Villa Victoria Center for the Arts (2017), where it was curated by David Guerra; The Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, Massachusetts (2018); The Loveland Museum, Loveland, Colorado (2018); and von Auersberg Gallery, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts (2019).
For his introductory panel, Cuban-born curator David Guerra wrote, “Guglielmo’s images are a record of the ethnic and cultural heterogeneity that characterizes the Cuban people by going beyond what is commonly defined today as Cuban. ‘Cubaneo’ is the term used in Cuba to refer not to the Cuban identity but to the ways that identity is expressed. ‘Cubaneo’ then includes all the idiosyncrasies of Cubans including its reflection in Cubans’ unique contemporary language. While access to what’s Cuban may be achieved without even visiting the island, exposure to ‘cubaneo’ can only be achieved in Cuba, immersed and surrounded by Cubans. Only then can their behavior, including negative attitudes, their interactions and aspirations, their feelings and ways of being and living reveal itself. These collages capture the essence of ‘cubaneo’, leaving behind the foreign and naïve views often used by other photographers looking to depict this island and its people.”
El Museo Histórico Provincial de Cienfuegos is located at 2702 Avenida 54, between Calle 27 and Sta. Isabel in Cienfuegos, Cuba. It is open daily Tue-Sat 9-5pm, Sun 9-12pm, closed Mon. For more information and hi-res press photos, please contact the artist at info@markguglielmo.com or visit his website at https://markguglielmo.com
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mark Guglielmo (b. 1970, New York City) is a contemporary artist best known for his layered figurative works that incorporate a diverse range of materials to explore themes of family, culture, place, and belonging. Rooted in his New York upbringing, Guglielmo utilizes collage as a central element of his practice, connecting his art to his background in hip-hop through techniques like sampling and reconfiguring existing materials into new compositions. Exhibited at museums and galleries internationally, his other significant projects include “Portraits of My People” (2021-2025), which honors his Italian lineage while addressing the complexities of identity and assimilation in America. It opens at the United Nations in New York City this September 1—26, 2025.
PRESS LINKS
https://artnewengland.com/blogs/mark-guglielmos-portrait-of-contemporary-cuba/
https://recorder.com/2017/06/07/artbeat-060817-10542661/
https://bigredandshiny.org/36696/cuban-complexity-mark-guglielmos-cubaneo/
https://thetakemagazine.com/mark-guglielmo-artist-2/
https://www.baystatebanner.com/2017/10/25/cubaneo/
https://www.wwlp.com/massappeal/cuba-in-transition-narrative-perspective-an-art-show/
https://valleyadvocate.com/2017/05/22/cuba-in-transition/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh1b5VrO_d4