Reynier Leyva Novo completes Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship in Washington D.C.

Reynier Leyva Novo culminates in Washington D.C. a considerable part of his research on slavery in the Caribbean and North America thanks to the contribution of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship program.

The first part of his project, started more than five years ago, was presented at the 13th Havana Biennial in 2019 in the personal exhibition "Homeland, Death and Sugar". The artist presented a peculiar collection of objects, exact replicas of pieces preserved by important museums in western Cuba that were used to subdue African slaves in the island's sugar plantations. Shackles, padlocks and handcuffs were reproduced by the artist through meticulous technical processes and melted in chocolate. He collaborated with artist Aryam López and renowned chef Alberto González Ceballos.

This spring, Leyva Novo expanded her studies of historical materials related to the U.S. slave trade held at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She has been advised by curators Mary Elliott and Betsy Johnson.

Photographs courtesy of Reynier Leyva Novo