A year ago I was invited to attend LE Miami, the luxury travel show. The event has a partnership with American Excursionist who organise bespoke tours designed by experts and led by local personalities. I went on their Little Havana Cultural Immersion tour, led by a cultural anthropologist, which took me to Calle Ocho to experience el calor Latino.
Our first stop was La casona de la sagüesera, the home of the identical twin Cuban artists, Ronald and Nelson Curras, who work in ceramics and have transformed their house into a living piece of art. La sagüesera, I was told, is Spanglish for “southwest.”
Throughout the home–which may be turned into a museum one day–are images of O’ Shun, the most popular of the orishas (spirits) in santería, the religion that developed in the African slave communities of the Cuba’s sugar plantations by adopting elements of Spanish-imposed Catholicism while maintaining beliefs from Africa, primarily those of Nigeria’s Yoruba tribe.
Incorporated into the murals and mosaics throughout the house are frequent images of sunflowers–the presence of which in Cuban art invoke O’ Shun.
I just loved the energy and colour of La casona de la sagüesera and feel very lucky to have been invited inside.
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
La casona de la sagüesera, Little Havana, Miami
Karen Gardiner 