DOR PCC (Suitberto Goire), "Como en Girón cumpliremos en la defensa y la producción: 30 aniversario," 1991. Silkscreen poster, 27.5 × 19"

This poster commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs invasion (Playa Girón, April 1961), when Cuban forces defeated a CIA-backed invasion force. The slogan "Como en Girón cumpliremos en la defensa y la producción" (As at Girón we will fulfill in defense and production) draws a parallel between military defense and economic productivity, both essential to the revolution. The powerful image shows a figure raising the Cuban flag with rifle in hand, symbolizing revolutionary vigilance.

GOIRE [Suitberto Goire Castilla] (1951-2013?) was born in Santiago de Cuba, where he lived and worked. He was considered one of Cuba’s finest silkscreen artists and ran his own graphics workshop. He graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Santiago and then studied architecture at the University of Oriente and French at Santiago’s Language Institute. A perennial student, Goire took dozens of postgraduate courses, including ones on Polish posters, Cuban graphic design, graphic design and communication theory industrial design, the art of typography, contemporary sociology, black culture in the Caribbean, visual communication, and subliminal techniques in advertising. In dozens of special courses, Goire passed on that knowledge: he taught at the University of Oriente and at other art schools in Cuba and always seemed to be either preparing to give a course or just finishing one. He took part in more than 130 exhibits at home and abroad, from VietNam to Ethiopia, from Sweden to Mongolia, from Mexico to Italy and Russia, and whenever there was a poster exhibit in the U.S., Goire was part of it. Goire also did set design, book illustrations, fashion and designed local hotels and restaurants. He taught many young people the art of hand silkscreening and became known especially for his annual CARNAVAL! posters and for his CUBANEGRA series. Goire was an artist of enormous energy, there were never enough hours in the day for him and one day his large heart just gave out – his fellow santiagueros complained that he worked the body’s engine much too hard.