The title translates to Abstinence (Rights). Abstinencia is the title of the series – Yoan has done other editions with words such as politics, religion, liberty and democracy. Yoan casts...
The title translates to Abstinence (Rights). Abstinencia is the title of the series – Yoan has done other editions with words such as politics, religion, liberty and democracy. Yoan casts these hands from anonymous individuals using sign language (each hand is from a different person) and they are sequenced to create words (here, derechos / rights), pointing to the inability of common people to voice their concerns and their lack of decision-making power on important social issues. For Yoan, abstinence in this instance is used in an ironic way – it is a metaphor for self-censorship, lack of power and the fear the Cuban population assumes in relation to the issues of politics, democracy, liberty and human rights.