Yoel Diaz Vázquez is a Cuban interdisciplinary visual artist who received his degree in sculpture from the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana. His work has been featured in the 29th São Paulo Biennial, the Göteborg Biennial, SAVVY Contemporary and nGbK in Berlin, as well as the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona, among others. He has been based in Berlin since 2009.
Díaz Vázquez combines video, photography, drawing, and screen printing in his work, integrating these media into installations shaped by the concept of each project. Using materials from his documentary records, found objects, and historical archives, he remixes texts, images, and objects via cutting, montage, digital processing, and layered superposition. This methodology highlights the tension between what is visible and what is hidden, exposing the mechanisms that sustain official narratives.
His artistic inquiry centers on how power and colonial dynamics shape social and cultural memory. Rather than erasing voices, his archival interventions aim to open new perspectives. By removing large portions of the original content, he creates voids that invite viewers to reconstruct meaning and critically question dominant stories.
In his most recent project, Díaz Vázquez reimagines the historic newspaper Previsión as a contemporary, fictional archive. Through this work, he honors the histories of the Afro-Cuban community and examines the roots of racism in Cuba. Through this act of rewriting, he initiates a dialogue between the past and the present, drawing attention to the traces and absences within collective memory.
Through his work, Díaz Vázquez fosters critical reflection on our relationship with the media and history. By emphasizing silences and overlooked fragments, he reveals how transformative narratives can emerge from the spaces in between.
oel Diaz Vázquez is a Cuban interdisciplinary visual artist who received his degree in sculpture from the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in Havana. His work has been featured in the 29th São Paulo Biennial, the Göteborg Biennial, SAVVY Contemporary and nGbK in Berlin, as well as the Centre d’Art Santa Mònica in Barcelona, among others. He has been based in Berlin since 2009.
Díaz Vázquez combines video, photography, drawing, and screen printing in his work, integrating these media into installations shaped by the concept of each project. Using materials from his documentary records, found objects, and historical archives, he remixes texts, images, and objects via cutting, montage, digital processing, and layered superposition. This methodology highlights the tension between what is visible and what is hidden, exposing the mechanisms that sustain official narratives.
His artistic inquiry centers on how power and colonial dynamics shape social and cultural memory. Rather than erasing voices, his archival interventions aim to open new perspectives. By removing large portions of the original content, he creates voids that invite viewers to reconstruct meaning and critically question dominant stories.
In his most recent project, Díaz Vázquez reimagines the historic newspaper Previsión as a contemporary, fictional archive. Through this work, he honors the histories of the Afro-Cuban community and examines the roots of racism in Cuba. Through this act of rewriting, he initiates a dialogue between the past and the present, drawing attention to the traces and absences within collective memory.
Through his work, Díaz Vázquez fosters critical reflection on our relationship with the media and history. By emphasizing silences and overlooked fragments, he reveals how transformative narratives can emerge from the spaces in between.