Salvador Gonzalez Escalona, an outstanding and acclaimed artist, cultural promoter, and manager of the Callejón de Hamel Community Socio-Cultural Project in the Havana neighborhood of Cayo Hueso, passed away in Havana, leaving a remarkable legacy on Cuban culture, essentially in the visual arts and traditional popular culture, to which he was closely linked until his last days.
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Camagüeyano by birth and Havana by adoption, Salvador created in the capital's Cayo Hueso neighborhood a unique space where cultural creativity flourished, be it weekend rhumba live gathering or local painters assisting his mural project. He devoted part of his life to developing community culture and promoting traditional popular culture.
His self-taught education did not prevent him from assuming art as part of his life. In the visual arts, he channeled his artistic concerns, reflecting in his work the influence of the greatest exponents of Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and Orozco, together with his appreciation of the rich African heritage rooted in Cuban culture.
"The outstanding visual artist and cultural promoter Salvador González Escalona, creator of the Callejón de Hamel as an integrating space-community project for popular culture, passed away today in Havana. Our deepest condolences."
His name acquired particular relevance among the new values of Cuban art precisely because of his work as a muralist. This is evidenced in the Callejón de Hamel, a space that was like a great gallery for him and a vital space for creating and safeguarding Afro-Cuban traditions.
A fierce defender of the essence of the nation's identity, Salvador left us an everlasting legacy, the fruit of his profound vocation of service.