Date with Angels

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David Puente
AC360° Producer

New Yorkers woke up this morning to harsh winds and rain, only adding to the feeling of gloom that comes with every 9/11 anniversary. The pain of that day comes back and hits deeper when you see the pictures of the victims and heroes on TV and hear their names read aloud by family and volunteers at the World Trade Center memorial services.

I was comforted this morning by recalling the feeling of unity that New Yorkers felt in the days after the attacks and how much of the world joined with us. I remembered how some of that international unity came from countries that some Americans might not have expected, like from Fidel Castro in Communist Cuba.

Today in New York, Cuban artists present an exhibit called “Date with the Angels.” It features 41 Cuban artists who express their reactions to the 9/11 disaster at the World Trade Center. They derived inspiration from two photographs taken in the aftermath of the attack. The exhibition was originally presented in Cuba in 2004 where Ricardo Alarcon, President of the National Assembly in Cuba, again expressed the government’s unity with New York.

“Since that terrible Tuesday we are all New Yorkers,” he said. “The sadness among Cubans ran very deep. This [exhibition] is a message of peace and friendship to New York and the United States.”

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The artists all worked at the Taller Experimental de Grafica, Cuba’s renowned printmaking facility. The exhibition is now in Manhattan at The School of Visual Arts' Westside Gallery in Chelsea through Sept. 19.

Follow David on Twitter @puenteac360.