CAMAGÜEY.- The sculpture of Aisar Jalil that has motivated urban legends in Camagüey, one linked to its disappearance from the square in front of the Principal Theater, was never stolen and receives restoration for its return to space.

"It is being done in the workshop of the ISA University of the Arts, there in Havana," José Rodríguez Barreras, director of the Camagüey City Historian's Office, confirmed to Adelante Digital, as part of the institution's efforts to the conservation and protection of the heritage of the city.

Even without a precise date for the completion of the process, they link the aspiration of the location with the transformation of the park, to the program of actions for the 510 years of the founding of the Villa de Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe.

The 1989 work represents Thalia, the smiling muse of the theater, also identified with bucolic poetry and as a rural divinity. It was located in the square named after Pablo Pildaín, a 19th century actor in Port-au-Prince.

It was sheltered in the Principal: "The vandalism of the city, which is eminent in these times, was in charge of tearing it down one morning where we had to act immediately," said Gregorio Márquez Flores, director of the coliseum.

Aisar Jalil with the sculpture

IN DETAIL WITH AISAR JALIL

The artist from Camagüey Aisar Jalil is aware of what happens with his work. His life goes through a circuit of stays in Miami, Havana and São Paulo. From Brazil he spoke with Adelante: "And a piece of my heart is still in Camagüey."

─Was it a commissioned work?

─Yes, it was a commissioned work. At the time, the director of Culture was Zenaida Porrúa. In those days it was not common to pay royalties to artists. She began to talk about how the fact of placing a work there was already the payment. So I, who am the way I am, began to rumor that no, that if Culture paid musicians for ephemeral issues such as carnival parties, well I had to be paid because it was something for posterity. We met at the Trova’s House and a great friendship emerged from the meeting.

─Why did you choose this muse?

─Thalia is the Greek muse of theater, of comedy, and it seemed to me that evoking her would be good, but you journalists and the people were the ones who reinforced that baptism that began to call her Thalia.

“People had begun to make sense of it, for example, I worked with Barbarita, a model from art school, so they began to consider her as something related to Santa Barbara. It seemed interesting and likeable.”

─What elements did you take into account in relation to the urban scene?

─I worked on the urban relationship of the scale of the sculpture, the park and the theater together with Octavio González, a very important architect from Camagüey, he received the National Architecture Award in 2009. We worked together on that project as well as on the Mechanical Plant and in the monument in Minas.

─Was any maintenance, preservation or restoration responsibility taken into account with you? I am asking this because the author's right to his work and the duty of the institution to which that work passes to its patrimonial fund draws my attention.

─I know that if it is damaged they have to compensate the damage to the piece, but I never did it.

─How did you find out about the vandalism of the sculpture, taking into account that it is a small square where the children of the neighborhood play ball, skip and not always at home they are taught to take care of works of art, monuments?

─I found out that the piece had been damaged. The next day several people from Camagüey told me. I asked my sister to go see if it was true, and it was true. I was very upset by being away because it created a sense of impotence in the face of what happened but, well, you see how now it is going to be restored and I am very happy that it is going to be restored and placed back there.

─What do you know about its restoration?

─I know that it is already being restored at this moment. The historian José sent me photos. It is being restored at ISA, there in Cubanacán.

─After so much time and situations, why do you agree to let Thalia return to her initial location? Would you modify something in its environment or in the work itself?

─The historian told me that they planned to modify the environment of the sculpture there. Hopefully it's in a way that protects her.

Translated by Linet Acuña Quilez