Far from Cuba. Always on the edge. Expecting. Surviving. A catfish on the shore. I no longer feel the entrance to my hometown, nor the nights with those who stayed. Self exile. Exhaust. To play every day in a BDSM room. Everything passes, and only the painting remains. The walls, on which murals and photos of the murderers once stood, are now torn down. On the surfaces, there are paintings. Affirmations. Cuba before the disaster. Future. Paradiso by Jose Lezama Lima. Everything comes together in Chicago. Comfort Station welcomes me. The space is a bedroom. Sex. Pain. Calm. Where distance produces innocence. Where false identity is assumed to see images that excite you. And the WOW and the YEAH blend together as the paint settles and the cum shoots out.

Yaismel Alba Garib, born 1990 in Matanzas, Cuba, holds an MFA in Performance from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Theater Studies from the University of Arts (ISA) in Havana, Cuba. His art navigates the dualities of completeness and emptiness, exploring the ever-changing spaces within the world and the transitional nature of artistic expression.