Make your own destiny and share | Esterio Segura | TEDxHabana

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

One of the most prominent and interesting Cuban visual artists Esterio Segura shares his view on how one can create and make their own destiny as an artist in Havana. His work has been exhibited in major galleries in Cuba and in the United States, Germany, Spain, England, Argentina, and Brazil among others. Its focus on community education led to the social project called Esterio Studio.

I'm Esterio Segura, I'm 44 years old,

I'm Cuban, I was born in 1970.

In 1970, the year of the 10 million.

The year of the 10 million in Cuba

and the year of the 10 million
different and important things

that happened in the world.

And, obviously, in 1970, I was
no visual artist nor did I perform magic,

but I was just born.

I was born in Sierra Maestra, up there,

just where 11 years ago,
there had been loads of rebels.

And in 1972, my family, my father,
decided to move from the mountains

down to the flattest place
on the island, the city of Camagüey.

There is where I grew up
and, at the age of 4

- which was not very fortunate -

I lost my mother,

and I turned into an introverted child,

a quiet child, observant and discreet.

And things were going
like so until I was 7.

My father was the one doing
all my drawing homework for school.

I didn't dare try; they just looked
fun and amusing to me.

At 8, after so much holding on inside,
there was a big explosion in my head

and it became a machine
in sync with my hands,

and I started drawing non-stop.

In my family there never was
anybody outstanding.

It was a simple and uncomplicated family.

It keeps on being so,

and no one ever outstood

beyond any other story from Macondo,
a typical Macondo's story.

My great-grandfather, José Esterio Segura,
was father of 21 offspring

in 3 different cities of the country;

21 acknowledged children,

and he died at 92 years of age
because he was run over by a car.

That is, he didn't die a natural death.

I had my grandfather, Alcides Segura,

a very able and audacious man.

He was an extremely daring guy,
he really enjoyed playing.

I was lucky enough to be his friend.

My father, Ramón Segura Segura,

son of two cousins

- that is, my grandfather
had him with his first cousin -

was the bright guy who decided
that I was to study Arts.

Many different things happened
throughout the whole of my degree,

related to how I started studying,
how I chose to become a visual artist,

I sat for the exams,

they were common exams,
but they gave you a test,

a very interesting test
about cultural subjects.

But there was a core question:
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Until that moment, the only thing
I wanted was to become a pilot.

A pilot of any type of airplane

- like this one you see here at the back -

any kind of aircraft.

However, for that question, I answered:
"I want to be a great painter"

because the only thing
I knew was painting.

I didn't know Michelangelo existed,
nor Rodin, nor anybody like that;

I only knew Da Vinci
and his painting Mona Lisa.

That was the painting
I was familiar with up to that moment.

And it became clear in that moment

I had undertaken the greatest
responsibility of my life.

Up then, my greatest responsibilities
were going to school, studying, learning

and taking care of my younger brother.

Nothing else.

I went to happy schools,

in a time that was the golden period
of education in Cuba.

I studied Art in different schools
since I was 12 years old, with teachers

with an impressive drive
to teach, to educate.

This is how I studied for 12 years;

I was granted scholarships many times,
from the Elementary School of the Arts,

the Secondary School of the Arts
in Camagüey

and ISA, a real treat,

as regards the relationship with space
and with my own surroundings.

I was lucky to enjoy

an intimate, professional,
peer relationship with all my teachers,

and to shape a path
to follow in my work

which had to do exactly
with that, with space.

As soon as I graduate from ISA,
I felt almost helpless.

As a young artist, I've done
many important things:

I had made the sculpture for the film
"Strawberry and Chocolate,"

I had received awards,

I had exhibited in La Bienal in La Habana,
we had made "La metáfora Del templo,"

but I found myself
in a difficult situation.

I was a young artist
just graduated from ISA

who lived in a rented garage
with a refrigerator, a table,

and not even a place
to sit down to digest my food.

And it was when I realized
I had to make my own destiny.

What was creating my luck about?

It was about building all that
I'd already had, rebuild it by myself,

which meant that since then,
since the year 1994,

until approximately 3 or 4 years ago,

I've been tirelessly working
to own a space to create my work.

That developed into that space
eventually becoming Esterio Studio.

Esterio Studio is a space

obviously devoted to the development
of my work and all my thinking;

but the most important of all

is that I realized many artists
had faced the same difficulties as me

and some of them even gave up
because of a lack of working space.

Therefore Esterio Studio
is about what I can contribute

for the benefit of other artists.

And not only for the visual artists,
but many others,

as there is no relationship among
visual artists, dancers, musicians.

This type of connection
which somehow has been lost,

Esterio Studio is trying to encourage it.

We also offer grants, shelter,
not only for visual artists

but for writers, filmmakers, musicians,

folks involved with the arts as well.

And moreover, sharing is what is all about

sharing a bit of the luck I had.

Sharing it with all those
who make art or create magic,

because I do believe

that we, the Cuban artists
more than art, create magic.

(Applause)