Pittsburgh’s J.A. Ramos Sucre Mural in New York Times

                  [Images via the New York Times]

The José Antonio Ramos Sucre mural in Pittsburgh's North Side, part of a public art project entitled “A River of Words” (2014) by Carolina Arnal, Israel Centeno and Gisela Romero, sponsored by City of Asylum Pittsburgh, is included in a recent New York Times feature about Pittsburgh.

The mural includes my English translation of the opening paragraph of Ramos Sucre’s poem “The Clamor,” from his final book:

“I lived submerged in the shadow of a lethal garden. An affectionate being had left me in solitude and I constantly honored her memory. A few high walls, of a secular old age, were defending silence. The willows were sporting flowers of alien branches, which I myself had sewn into their sterile foliage.”
(The Enamel Sky, 1929)

The NYT video can be seen here: http://nyti.ms/1HuX6Zy

A free PDF download of my English translation of José Antonio Ramos Sucre, Selected Works (University of New Orleans Press, 2012) is available via the link below:

[http://cl.ly/1W2d40071P1a]

Venezuelan Art Collective Wins Public Art Contest in Pittsburgh

                (Israel Centeno, writer)

The Venezuelan artists Carolina Arnal, Israel Centeno and Gisela Romero were the winners of an open call by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh and the Office of Public Art of Pittsburgh for the realization of one of three temporary art projects that will take place in Pittsburgh, PA starting in July, with an interdisciplinary proposal entitled “River of Words.”

Arnal, Centeno and Romero have formed a group that, from different disciplines, has been working together since 2002 as a critical voice in various art projects.

                                        (Israel Centeno)

                                        (Carolina Arnal)

                                        (Gisela Romero)

The project “River of Words” came about from a collaboration between the graphic designer Carolina Arnal, the writer Israel Centeno and the visual artist Gisela Romero, and it includes ephemeral, temporary and permanent art transformed into texts, words, drawings and designs. With the intention of actively involving community residents, they organized a program in which neighbors chose the words they wanted to have as guests in their streets, backyards and homes. Among many other words, there will be fragments of texts by the Venezuelan poets Eugenio Montejo, Rafael Cadenas and José Antonio Ramos Sucre.

                                        (Eugenio Montejo)

                                        (Rafael Cadenas)

                                        (José Antonio Ramos Sucre)

The main idea of the project is the artistic and everyday connection between the neighbors of the community and the Alphabet City Literary Center, within approximately eight blocks of Pittsburgh, on the northern side of the city, a historic district known as Mexican War Streets. Using the layout of contact between neurons, words and drawings, there will be connections drawn between houses, streets and backyards, creating a synapsis and materializing the contact between human beings in the exchange of energy, affection and knowledge.

The project will be installed by its creators, Arnal, Centeno and Romero.




Translator’s Note: More information about “River of Words” can be found at the City of Asylum/Pittsburgh website.




{ El Universal, 10 July 2014 }