Someone who buys Alejandra Estefanía’s art traveled to Cuba and, upon return to the US, brought her a photograph as a present. The snapshot of a Cuban boy holding a flower inspired in Alejandra one in all the paintings she’s proudest of.
The painting sparked countless comments on Instagram about who the kid was and who the flower was for, a story that Alejandra hopes to find someday.
“The aim of my art is to encourage people, that they feel powerful after they view it, regardless of where they’re,” said Alejandra, a 29-year-old artist based in Miami.
Born in Ecuador, she grew up in North Carolina since she was 4 years old. Although she had never studied art before, on the age of 19 she had the sensation that her purpose was to specific herself through painting, something her immigrant mother didn’t welcome. At 21 she decided to go to Miami, with $100 in her pocket and an enormous desire to attend the art institute there.
“I needed to work very hard to attain it, but doors opened because I used to be ready and focused on my true vocation,” says Alejandra. “After I got here to Miami I felt that I might be in my culture, be myself, live my Latino identity,” she added.
“Cuban culture could be very strong in Miami and the Cubans welcomed me as a sister, there was no line to divide us, I felt like family.” But for a very long time, Alejandra has had a spiritual and skilled have to visit Cuba. She says that it might help her to be inspired much more for her future works. That’s why she decided to participate along together with her fiancé, the artist Mojo, in an exclusive trip to Havana next November, organized by OnCuba Travel.
Only eight people can have the chance to share with them the journey of discovering the colours and flavors of Havana, in private meetings with top artists on the island, visits to the fundamental art museums, and other activities including seaside yoga sessions and Cuban food tastings.
“For individuals who determine to affix this experience, I’m sure it’s going to be unforgettable and, being a small group, we’ll have the unique opportunity to attach with artists on the island and amongst ourselves,” said Alejandra.
For her, the trip also means the potential for understanding and learning more about Miami’s own Cuban culture, a way of making ties with the environment that inspires her. Her art is well received by the Cuban community in South Florida, which selected her design for the Miami Carnival poster in 2019.
Now, after establishing herself as a successful artist, she likes to see herself as a “teacher of fine things,” so she combines her artistic work with motivational talks and volunteer work at different community centers.
In one in all those centers she had an encounter that inspired her to complete a painting she had been working on for a very long time. It was with one other black boy (just like the Cuban child within the photo) who she met in a shelter “miraculously,” and will not get out of her imagination.
“The kid was similar to the one I used to be painting and couldn’t finish. I knew it immediately and it was magical.” Their conversation had an impact on Alejandra, who finally finished the piece. The painting, one in all her most famous, is entitled “Where the Flowers Bloom.”
“People not only buy my art, however the story behind the piece, and that’s why I wish to connect with my buyers, with those that eat my art.”
On her Instagram page, Alejandra shares a few of those stories together with her greater than 23,000 followers, through which she hopes she’s going to “change as many lives as she will be able to.”
In Cuba, Alejandra won’t only visit visual artists, but additionally hopes to seek out the unknown child within the photo to present him a replica of her painting and learn more about his story. “I’m very excited to know more in regards to the origins of Cuban culture, the history of Cuba, and to satisfy so many talented artists,” said Alejandra.
“And I’m excited to satisfy the boy in my painting and maybe discover who the flower was for, which he held so tenderly and strongly in his hands.”
Marita Pérez Díaz, 
marita
