His talent and activism on social media helped give visibility to numerous Cuban reporters
Cuban designer and artist Rolando Pulido died this Friday in New York at the age of 58. The artist, who decorated emblematic cultural spaces and was a great promoter of the cause of democracy on the island, died in a hospital in the Bronx, in the city where he lived.
“Our beloved brother, Rolando Pulido, rested last night, grateful from the heart for all the solidarity that we all transmit to him until the end,” announced emigrant writer Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo on his Facebook account.
Painter and designer, in 1980 and when he was only 18 years old, he decided to leave Cuba during the Mariel exodus. Shortly after declaring his intention to emigrate he was the victim of a massive act of repudiation where, as he recalled in testimonies and interviews, he was “humiliated and severely beaten.”
“The Cuba that I knew I had not liked a little bit. It had been the place where since I was born they tried to indoctrinate me with an ideology that I did not like, which was not the one that my parents would have preferred for me,” he explained years later to remember your early days in New York.
“The country where a foreigner is the only one who has the right to be free. The country that hit me when I wanted to leave. My country, which forbids me to touch its soil,” he reiterated. Among the most iconic works of his career are the design of the Blue Note jazz club, Cooper’s Bar, Strand Bookstore, and also some of the Saturday Night Live stages .
Starting in 2007, Pulido became enthusiastically involved with the independent blogosphere that was taking its first steps on the Island
Starting in 2007, Pulido became enthusiastically involved with the independent blogosphere that was taking its first steps on the island. Most of the posters, visual campaigns and logos associated with the phenomenon of digital blogs were born from his creativity.
His activism on the networks helped to give visibility to numerous Cuban reporters. “For many years I looked for the most effective way to denounce the atrocities that occur in Cuba by the government and I found that it is through my graphic work,” he said. “Today thanks to the internet, I can share my work with other Cubans in many parts of the world, even within the island, and do projects together.”
Dedicated, supportive and talented, that’s how his friends and collaborators remember Rolando Pulido, a designer who “took the complaint about the Cuban situation to the level of beauty and visually attractiveness”; as said by an Internet user this Saturday when the news of his death was known.
Amelia Warner
Amelia Warner writes all the Latest Articles. She mostly covers Entertainment topics, but at times loves to write about movie reviews as well.
