• Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Oil pastel on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on brown paper, 45x35.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 21.5x32.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 32.5x21.5cm, 2017
  • Colored pencil on paper, 32.5x21.5cm, 2017
  • Oil pastel on paper, 32.5x21.5cm, 2017
Maydel Portela Valdes
Havana, 1976

Maydel began to draw recurrently being already an adult. She was born with a congenital adrenal hypothyroidism, illness that was not detected on time during her first weeks of newborn, then caused an irreversible neurocognitive affectation that altered her development and language. Her parents always took care of her giving her a lot of affection.
Maydel's drawings represent in a very singular way all the memories of the people that have been part of her daily life and also of her family. The groups of humanoid figures that she creates can be classified by genre, in masculine or feminine only according to the recurrent or symbolic characteristics that she herself incorporates. Each figure and its context, at the same time recurrent with its patterns but also unique with its colors and forms. Her experiences are restricted to the surroundings of her home and others family houses. However, she is an active spectator because from her little apartment's balcony she daily observes her neighborhood's streets and interacts with friends and neighbors. All of it contributes to the colors heterogeneity in the representation of emotions and feelings in her drawings.