The Kansas City Museum presents The History Behind the Sheets, an exhibit with select paintings by Michel Mirabal and presented in partnership with Cubanisms: A Cuban Cultural Project, founded by Kansas City Ethnic Enrichment Commissioners Dálida T. Pupo Barrios (Cuba) and Michael McClintock (USA).

Michel’s exhibit is about broken dreams, waiting for something that has not yet arrived, resistance, the colors, smells, and flavors of life, and the history of the Cuban society behind their sheets.

While the exhibit is on view, programming at the Museum explores the history of KC Sister Cities and the Ethnic Enrichment Commission, the importance of international relations to the growth of Kansas City, and the importance of international cultural exchanges to Kansas City’s membership in the UNESCO Creative City Network(UCCN)—as the first and only UN-ESCO Creative City of Music in the United States. Santiago de Cuba and Havana, Cuba are now also UCCN Cities of Music.

Michel’s body of work includes paintings, drawings, photography, and mixed media installations that often include imagery of flowers, barbed wire, and banderas (flags). His work reveals both the beauty and harsh realities of struggle, survival, and transformation. He centralizes the Cuban flag as a recurring symbol and metaphor to create an honest, reflective discourse that unveils the complexity of cultural identity and nationalism and exposes the courageous resistance, resilience, and creativity needed to attain truth, independence, and freedom.

For more information, please contact Glenn North, Director of Inclusive Learning & Creative Impact, at gnorth@kansascitymuse-um.org