No Seasoning: Artworks by Seven Afro-Descendant Cuban Outsider Artists

No Seasoning is a historic group exhibition presented at the CopperBridge Foundation Headquarters, bringing together the work of seven Afro-descendant Cuban Outsider artists. Curated by independent curator and art critic Elvia Rosa Castro, the exhibition marks the first presentation of its kind in Miami.

The exhibition addresses the overlapping stigmas faced by the participating artists, racial discrimination and marginalization rooted in lives lived outside cultural, social, and institutional norms, conditions that place them in states of heightened vulnerability and structural disadvantage. Featuring works by Pedro Pablo Bacallao Perdomo, Gloria de la Caridad García, Misleidys Castillo, Isaac Crespo, Daldo Marte, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and Martha Iris Pérez Santana, the exhibition spans collage, drawing, sculpture, and photography, presenting a powerful and non-stereotypical vision of resilience and creative autonomy.

Castro frames the exhibition as a “Ten-Minute Stop”: a pause that offers authenticity and unfiltered expression in a world shaped by standardization, censorship, and lingering forms of colonialism. Embracing a state of “radical nakedness,” the exhibition foregrounds honesty, transparency, and the absence of socio-cultural rituals.

Most of the featured artists live and work in Cuba. The works are drawn from the NAEMI Collection (National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill), made possible through the generous support of Juan Martin, NAEMI’s Executive Director. The exhibition will be accompanied by a specially designed catalogue and a series of public programs, including panels, documentary screenings, and community-engaged initiatives.

About the Curator

Elvia Rosa Castro is a renowned independent art critic and curator based in North Carolina with 30 years of impassioned experience in conceiving and launching significant, acclaimed exhibitions in Cuba, Germany, Mexico, Portugal, and the United States.

About Copperbridge Foundation

Copperbridge Foundation (CBF) is a Miami-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting cultural and educational exchange through artistic expression. Established to build a cultural “bridge” that unites people through the arts, CBF supports and presents projects across visual arts, music, theater, dance, and architecture. Through exhibitions, educational initiatives, and travel programs, the Foundation creates platforms for the creation, presentation, and interpretation of artistic practices from Caribbean, African, North and South American cultures, with a particular emphasis on Cuba, fostering dialogue and cross-cultural understanding through the arts.

About Naemi

Founded in 1988, NAEMI (National Art Exhibitions of the Mentally Ill) was established by Juan Martin while working as a counselor at a community mental health center in Miami, after recognizing the extraordinary artistic potential of individuals living with mental illness. Dedicated to fostering the artistic development of self-taught artists whose work emerges from intense and deeply personal visions, NAEMI has spent over three decades advancing the field of outsider art through exhibitions, publications, conferences, and educational programs. NAEMI’s exhibitions have been presented annually in Miami and shown internationally across the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Through public engagement and scholarly publications, NAEMI seeks to raise awareness, challenge stigma, and affirm the creative power and cultural significance of artists recovering from mental illness.

Misleidys Castillo

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara

Gloria de la Caridad García

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