Alina Sardiña and PIO TAI

Maria Matienzo Puerto

HAVANA TIMES — This dairy entry is, of course, just a portion of what occurred on November 2, 2012 (and which will be there until November 20) in Old Havana at one of the art galleries at the corner of Luz and Oficio streets in what’s known as the Provincial Center for Art and Design.

PIO TAI is the pretext that a group of us artists/friends came up with five years ago to keep us as united as possible.

It’s the excuse for perhaps why I invented myself so that those artists/friends would remain in my life forever.

This time it’s featuring the work of Alina Sardiña, with her creation “Las playas de Sabina” (Sabina’s beaches).

The sea, memories and her family are the reasons that once concerned this artist/friend who used to snap the shutter of her digital camera without thinking how much she could spark with her images.

The lyricism with which Alina reveals the nakedness of Sabina, her daughter, intrudes upon all creative souls. Mother and daughter give us the sea.

A little over a year ago I saw some pictures from this exhibit and I couldn’t do anything else but dream about this still unfinished story for children.

“Sabina looks at the clouds, entertaining herself by watching them cross the piece of sky that fits into her eyes. Sabina likes clouds because they remind her of the sea. The foam of the waves breaks onto the shore with no definite shape. Clouds don’t have fixed shapes either.

“The sea, always there, is within the reach of one’s hands, while the clouds are so far away. Will I ever be able to reach them? She asked her mother that question several times, but she still hasn’t gotten a response. Her mother hesitates, looks at her and knows that your daughter isn’t crazy, she knows that these are the dreams the girl has inherited.

“A boat and a fish tank with hundreds of fish are there in her bedroom, in the absence of the sea, were her dreams when she was Sabina’s age. Now her daughter dreams of seeing clouds pass in front of her face while enjoying the sea.”

Life charted different paths for each of its founders, but PIO TAI continues to serve as the cement that unifies other artists/friends who also come to stay for good.

I say all this though I know the absences are apparent.

And if everything went so well, it was because of Tagles Heredia, Ivan Rebollar, Eduardo Djiata, Aldo Morales, Nelson Ponce, Rafael Alvarez, Carlos, Elia, Luis, Gustavo, Claudia, Yrak, and many others who continue to feel a part of PIO TAI.

Maria Matienzo

Maria Matienzo Puerto: I dreamed once that I was a butterfly who had come from Africa and discovered that I had been alive for thirty years. From that time on, I constructed my world while I was sleeping: I was born in a magic city like Havana; I dedicated myself to journalism; I wrote and edited books for children; I met to discuss art with wonderful people; I fell in love with a woman. Of course, there are certain points of coincidence with the reality of my waking life and it’s that I prefer the silence of reading and the pleasure of a good movie.