Roberto Diago's work is a permanent reminder that freedom is not granted, it is conquered; it is not a passive state, but a continuous practice - a constant tension that demands keeping memory alive and dignity intact.

The installation “Free Men”.” is composed of a group of sculptures (heads) of various dimensions that advance towards the viewer, welcoming and confronting him or her. They show scars that emerge in relief from rusted metals, wood, plastics and recovered materials -a tactile memory that refuses to be flattened by oblivion. In this poetics, freedom does not imply hiding a history of pain under the makeup of assimilation, but displaying it like a medal.

This vindication begins in the very epidermis of the piece, confronting us with black skin not as a smooth and docile surface, but as a geographical map of trauma and resistance. The keloid thus becomes an affirmation of identity: the irrefutable proof of having survived punishment and that the flesh, though scarred, remains sovereign.

From this perspective, the concept of “free man” transcends the legal definition of one who is not in chains; for the artist, a free person is one with the courage to recognize his marks, dignify his precariousness and sustain his gaze in the face of a history that tried to erase him. He does not represent victims, but builds a genealogy of survivors who have crowned themselves.

Juan Roberto Diago Durruthy
Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1971. Lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Painter, sculptor and installation artist, he is a graduate of the San Alejandro Academy of Plastic Arts. He currently works as a consulting professor at the Universidad de las Artes (ISA) and is a member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC).

Juan Roberto Diago has consolidated a solid international career of more than two decades, with presence in prestigious art circuits in Europe, Africa, the United States and the Caribbean. His solo career includes outstanding exhibitions at the Ethelbert Cooper Gallery at Harvard University, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana and Casa America in Madrid. A constant figure in major international biennials, Diago has participated in the Venice Biennale (1997, 2017), the Havana Biennial and the Dakar Biennial (2022), along with landmark shows such as “Arts of Cuba” at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D. C. His work is part of important public and private collections around the world, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the CIFO and Pizzuti collections in the United States, the Museum of Black Civilizations in Senegal, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba and the Reina Sofia Museum in Spain.

Using found materials, his work explores an enduring theme: the essence of the enslaved within the contemporary black man. His work addresses the historical conflict of the African diaspora, reflecting a spirit of resistance and the daily struggle for survival. By interweaving these materials piece by piece, he reveals the wounds of the past, while endowing the work with the strength to endure.

His pieces have been exhibited in hundreds of solo and group exhibitions in some 25 countries. His work is part of approximately 20 important national and international collections.