![\"Michelle](\"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/expo-cuba-michele-1.jpg\")
<\/a>In the New York museum\u2019s salons visitors can find other references to this island\u2019s art and society. The vast exhibition comprises from interactive materials and Cuban music videos to a street where a game of dominoes can be played and the aroma of coffee can be taken in, in addition to the famous tobacco leafs, made from paper, and a 1955 Chevrolet that is proof of the ingenuity of Cubans to maintain these cars running.<\/p>\n
However, according to Ana Luz Porzencanski, director of the Museum\u2019s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation and the exhibition\u2019s curator, the intention of the display \u201cis to go beyond the headlines about Cuba and show what the people perhaps don\u2019t know or expect.\u201d That\u2019s why, according to what Michelle Miyares said to OnCuba<\/strong>, \u201cthe curators\u2019 greatest interest was focused on the great biodiversity of Cuban nature and the state of conservation and protection of certain species and\/or areas like the Alejandro de Humboldt Park.\u201d<\/p>\n In order to meet that goal, not only large-scale photos and models of wetlands, forests and coral reefs with their characteristic flora and fauna have been included, but also models of enormous realism of the island\u2019s current or extinct species, among them the giant prehistoric owl, the bee hummingbird, the solenodon and the crocodile. Live animals like the Cuban anole are also on exhibit.<\/p>\n This kaleidoscope, according to Miyares, above all wants to be \u201ca window to take a peek at the island from the United States at a very particular moment of relations between the two countries.\u201d Christopher Raxworthy, also curator-in-charge of the exhibition, agrees with this and recently commented to The New York Times that for a long time the museum had wanted to present a display on Cuba, now facilitated because \u201cthe normalization has attracted people\u2019s attention.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Ana Luz Porzencanski, although she has recognized her institution\u2019s historic links with the Museum of Natural History of Cuba, a center that collaborated with putting on the display, confirmed that the change of U.S. policy toward the island facilitated the invitation to Cuban colleagues and the granting of visas.<\/p>\n Miyares was personally responsible for the transfer of the chosen posters to New York and later collaborated with the necessary information for setting them up. It was then that she received the proposal of creating an image to promote the exhibition and that\u2019s how the idea came up for the poster with the symbolic and inclusive anole.<\/p>\n \u201cI was very enthusiastic about the challenge and at the same time it was an honor,\u201d says the artist. \u201cThe dialogue with the U.S. curators and communication specialists worked well at all times. I presented them with three ideas and they chose the Cuban anole, which is part of the exhibition and I thought it was interesting to explore as a graphic resource, especially because of the structure that we commonly call \u2018handkerchief\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOnce I started working on the chosen sketch, things started taking shape, until the elements that are shown in the \u2018handkerchief\u2019 of the anole remained and which had to be linked to the aspects making up the display. In the end, I am satisfied with what has been done and, at the same time, very grateful to all the museum personnel with which I have had the opportunity to exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t