The mural entitled "395" was created by internationally renowned Cuban-American multidisciplinary artist Cesar Santalo in 2022. The mural was commissioned as storytelling content during the title sequence of Patria y Vida, The Power of Music. Photos were strategically cut and placed according to the narration of Beatriz Luengo, the documentary's director. The mural is a deconstructed image of musician Maykel Osorbo’s attempted arrest in San Isidro, Cuba, in 2021. With the help of friends from the neighborhood, he escaped his arrest and held his handcuffed arm in protest.
The original video clip was a vertically formatted picture. Santalo decided to transform the experience into a horizontal format because he believed it would allow the viewer to participate in the painting actively as a spectator on that day.
The mural is comprised of images of articles that chronicled the song's impact not only in the United States and Cuba but also globally. The artwork also followed the journey of the San Isidro movement, a Havana-based group of dissenter artists and thinkers, the imprisonment of Maykel Osorbo, one of the authors of the controversial song, and that of the movement’s leader, artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara. The movement was created in September 2018 as a reaction to Decree 349 and increased censorship by the Cuban government. According to the law, the Cuban Ministry of Culture must grant prior authorization for any artistic activity.
Though the photos are carefully placed, the distressed images and texture reflect the urban neighborhoods and Cuba’s way of life. The artist utilized yarn, string, pins, and polaroid-like photos, either stuck or pinned to the wall simulating a crime or evidence wall. The artist also used string to interconnect layers of images, and writings, depicting a trail of evidence. Santalo also included objects and photos that profoundly represent Cuban culture, such as dominoes, Cuban coffee, Cuban exile history, cigar boxes, and the Santeria religion. The use of espresso coffee pots is a recurring theme in Santalo’s collage work and installations.
The collage featured a collection of media from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, El Pais, NPR, NBC News, Harvard Political Review, Billboard, Rolling Stone Magazine, USA Today, The Economist, Miami Herald, and The Los Angeles Times which covered the impact of the song “Patria Y Vida.” Using published visual and written content as the foundation for the visual aesthetic of the mural, the art piece now also serves as a journalistic time capsule showcasing the song's impact as it attempts to transform and inform audiences everywhere.
Yotuel, the leader of the “Patria y Vida Movement” and one of the rappers and composers of the song, is making it his mission to continue to spread awareness of the struggles and oppression of the Cuban people. The island nations has the longest dictatorship in Latin America and the second longest in the world, spanning over 60 years. Yotuel wants people to remember the lack of freedom for Cubans that initially prompted the song and protests, the unjust sentences for the protesters of July 11, 2021, and the political prisoners that continue to suffer. #patriayvida
