AFI and CADAL are pleased to feature the work of Nicaraguan visual artist Pedro X. Molina throughout Ecos de libertad: art as a voice of resistance in Nicaragua. The five works he created for the report speak to themes of censorship, persecution, and resilience within the context of Nicaragua’s political repression.
Pedro X. Molina is a cartoonist and illustrator from Nicaragua with more than twenty years of experience working for international media. Molina’s political cartoons offer unique insights on the political situation in Nicaragua and international politics more broadly. Through his work, Molina has become a prominent voice in the Nicaraguan diaspora, advocating for human rights and freedom of expression worldwide. His cartoons, caricatures, editorial illustrations, and comics have been printed or published online in major publications, including Politico, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Courier International, and Confidencial. He was the recipient of the 2021 Gabo Award for Excellence and the 2023 Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent.
The cartoons displayed in Ecos de libertad highlight Nicaraguan artists’ courage and resilience in continuing to create despite the risks. Each cartoon displayed in Ecos de libertad captures a distinct facet of the challenges faced by artists and dissidents under the Ortega-Murillo regime: Scenario portrays the imminent danger that artists face when they express dissent through their creative work, becoming immediate targets of the regime’s wrath. Graffiti serves as both a tribute to and a denunciation of the persecution faced by talented individuals who dared to exercise their right to freedom of expression, resulting in the loss of professional opportunities, arbitrary detention, and/or banishment. Exile reflects the sorrow and injustice of artists being forced to reluctantly leave their homeland for advocating for justice and freedom through their art. With Censorship Molina conveys the confrontation between the pressure exerted by the regime to control creative and journalistic expression and the defiance of reporters, artists and activists who refuse to bow to censorship. Finally, Easel expresses Molina’s hope for a future where exiled Nicaraguan artists can reunite in a liberated homeland. Through these cartoons, Molina communicates the value and importance of all forms of artistic expression and highlights the harsh consequences faced by those who refuse to be silenced in authoritarian regimes.
Although these five cartoons speak to the general situation in Nicaragua, specific cases influenced the artist’s creation process such as the forced exile of musicians like Jandir Rodriguez, Mario Ruiz, and Josue Monroy in Scenario, the kidnapping and arbitrary detention of street artists Torch Místico and Vink in Graffiti, and the resistance of Molina’s journalist colleagues in Censorship. Additionally, several of the characters portrayed on the canvas of Exile are caricatures loosely based on real-life Nicaraguans in exile.
To learn more about Pedro X. Molina’s work, please see his website at: https://www.pxmolina.com/