Lidia E. Aguilera Sanchez (Santiago de Cuba)

Lidia trained as a sculptor at the Escuela de Talla Clara Zetkin and later studied at the San Alejandro Academy in Havana. Her sculptures are often enormous, frequently made with recycled industrial materials such as cement, metals, and wood. “I love them equally”, she says. She is also a painter immersed in Afro Cuban culture and has created public murals in places such as the US and Mexico. She has said she finds abstract painting is the most sincere and honest way to express her creativity.

Noted Cuban author Miguel Barnet has commented how “Wood, canvas, metals and alloys are ennobled in the hands of this artist. With her genius she discovers areas and regions of the spirit that nobody has seen, enriching our world view.”

Lidia  is a member of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists (UNEAC), the International Association of Visual Artists of UNESCO (AIAP), and a founding member of the Association of Cuban Artisans and Artists (ACAA), as well as a member of its National Council.

The artist has had more than 30 national and international solo exhibitions and has participated in over 100 group shows. She has received over 50 awards and recognitions for her work including the National Culture Award, Havana (1996).  Aguilera Sanchez is noted in the Registro de Personalidades de la Cultura Cubana. Her work is held in numerous private and public collections around the world in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Italy, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the US, the UK and elsewhere.