Viaje Fantástico

There’s a mysterious brass statue in Havana’s Plaza Vieja. A woman sits atop her big, feathery mount, her voluptuous form completely naked except for the stilettos on her feet. A massive forks rests on her right shoulder. The rooster, ever so stoic, gazes ahead.

No one knows the meaning behind the puzzling sculpture. The piece is called Viaje Fantástico, so perhaps she’s heading off on an adventure to some sort of nudist dinner party. Or, as some online theories speculate, it could have a more sexual connotation given the rooster’s association with male genitalia. Or, maybe, it’s just a figure of the sculptor’s imagination and has no greater symbolism at all.

Recent tour guides have suggested it is meant as a tribute to the long history of prostitution in Havana. The nude woman is earning her meals (fork and chicken) by selling herself. Yet, she is unabashed by this behavior, as seen in the defiant look on her face. 

Roberto Fabelo installed the nugget of art in Plaza Vieja in 2012 without explanation or context. The artist, who won the country’s 2004 National Arts Award, frequently features nude women with birdlike appearances in his work.