International Cuban painter Michel Mirabal
President Sisi is the biggest supporter of art and artists, and the evidence is the City of Arts in the Administrative Capital, as it is the largest art complex and museums in the Arab world.
He is interested in making an exhibition about immigration in Egypt, as it is safe and has a great future for immigration
I would like to hold an exhibition in Egypt, as it is a country with a 7,000-year-old civilization and the strongest in the region
The first migration that took place in the world was the migration of Jesus Christ to Egypt, as it is a country that historically symbolizes migration
I stand in solidarity with the issue of immigration personally, as my eldest daughter was one of the immigrants
My most important artistic works were dedicated to President Sisi, Obama, the former American president, and Ambassador Maher Al-Adawi
I was amazed by the peaceful coexistence between religions in Egypt and 40% of my work goes to charity…
Interview him ✍️ Muhammad Amer…
How beautiful it is to be a talented artist and the one with a message. Then you feel like you are a divine messenger, ready to endure the hardship and trouble endured by the prophets in order to spread your message, and your talent turns from mere art into the cry of an oppressed and oppressed person who emigrated from his homeland in search of his freedom and security, leaving his family and his childhood memories to turn into just an immigrant, an expatriate, and a strange guest. He is looking for a life, a new beginning, and work to secure his daily livelihood. If he loses his life during emigration or loses his dignity outside his country, that is the least of the losses, because he lost his identity, his humanity, his past, his present, and his future on the day he left his country and became just a number among millions of immigrants around the world. For all of the above, the international Cuban painter Michel transformed. Mirabal goes from a talented artist who loves drawing to a warrior who fights for the cause of refugees who left their country due to political suppression of their freedoms or difficult economic and living conditions. What increased Michel’s interaction with the issue of immigration is that his daughter was one of the immigrants because she went and took his heart with her and her childhood memories in his embrace since she was… A child he pampers and plays with. Perhaps he felt frustrated and hopeless because despite his overwhelming compassion and humanity, he failed as a father to make her feel safe, protect her, and convince her to stay in Cuba 🇨🇺 their country because he personally is convinced of her justifications for emigrating and rejects the same thing his daughter rejects, but he is different from her because he decided to stay to express his art and paintings, not about… Only his daughter, but to express all the pain of immigrants and refugees, perhaps he will satisfy his conscience and apologize retroactively to his daughter, and his voice will reach those who remain among those with minds and consciences, whose presence is rare in this cruel and unjust world, which has turned into an arena of conflict and a desolate jungle in which only the strongest survive and is not governed by fair laws, and in my dialogue, which I was pleased and honored with. In it, I interview Michel Mirabal, the international Cuban painter who possesses more courage, nobility, and knightly morals than many legends and heroes. I felt his sincerity and sentiments before I received a translation of his words in his Spanish language from His Excellency Ambassador Maher Al-Adawi, the former Egyptian ambassador to Cuba and a close friend. From Michel and his family, and in the presence of Michel’s friend, the distinguished and respected archaeologist, Dr. Muhammad Makki, the generous invitation who arranged this meeting for us… Below is the text of the interview.
Michel Mirabal, the international Cuban painter, said that he is currently in the most important age of his artistic life because last year he started his own exhibition in Venice.
He explained that it is the first time that a Cuban artist is hosted in the exhibition held every two years in Cuba, as they usually host 3 artists from abroad.
He continued by saying: “The idea for his exhibition is ‘international migration’ and that he is interested in making an exhibition in Egypt with this idea, given that Egypt is a safe country in the middle of a region full of problems, and his future is largely migration, and because since his childhood his family had told him about Egypt and burdened him with information about it.”
Regarding the reason for his strong solidarity with the issue of immigration, he explained that during the last 3 years, 10% of the Cuban people have immigrated outside their country, adding that this is one of the most important problems existing in Cuba, and most of the immigrants were to the United States, including his eldest daughter, which made the matter affect him personally. .
He added that last year, Venice invited him to do a project on immigration from among his widely diverse works, noting that he created a permanent exhibition in Europe.
He explained his point of view in refusing to have sponsors for his exhibitions, noting that he wants to be free and not be bound by the opinions of sponsors in choosing paintings, especially since this controls all artists and how they choose and display their art, but he is outside this system.
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He explained that he knows that President Sisi is one of the biggest supporters of art and artists, stressing that this is evident in the City of Arts established in the Administrative Capital, which contains the largest art complex and museums in the Arab world.
Michel expressed his desire to create many artistic works about immigration on papyrus, and to display them in his currently held exhibition to add an Egyptian spirit to his art and works, in addition to realistic pictures of immigrants with their customs and traditions to publish in his exhibitions.
In response to a question from Michel Mariel about the impact of the tense political situation between Cuba and the United States, and does he face obstacles due to the tension between the two countries? The latter explained that he is outside the political framework and that he is a free man who does what he wants, and therefore Cuba does not ask him to represent them, but he attends celebrations and exhibitions because he is him and represents himself only.
He stressed that he believes that the most influential factor in his success is his sincerity and strength in his fight to communicate his idea more than his talent.
Michel expressed his admiration for papyrus paper and its influence on his paintings, noting that it gave his paintings great elegance and value, as 35 papyrus paintings were sold, including those dedicated to President Sisi, President Obama, and His Excellency Ambassador Maher Al-Adawi.
He also explained that drawing on him was not easy at first, but over time he excelled at it, and that he donated the money from the 35 paintings to build two houses in Cuba for the poor, stressing that 40% of his work goes to charity.
He concluded his talk about Egypt by saying that he had been studying Egyptian civilization since his childhood in Cuba at the hands of his mother, until he got to know the Egyptian Ambassador Maher Al-Adawi, so he became more connected to Egyptian culture and civilization, indicating that when he came to Egypt, he was greatly influenced by what he saw of culture and history in the previous visit and the current visit, and that he He wanted to see a country that hosts all these immigrants and supports his same idea of immigration, and that Egypt contains a large number of them, reaching 14 million immigrants, expressing the love of the Egyptian people and their good treatment of immigrants, and this matter must be respected by the whole world, and expressed in art, He believes that the wonderful thing is that Egypt is located in a region full of international problems, and yet Egypt is an oasis of safety, progress, and work.
He added, expressing his astonishment at the peaceful coexistence in Egypt between different religions, which would create major differences in any country in the world, noting that wars globally begin from religious aspects, but Egypt is distinguished by familiarity, cohesion, and national unity.
