A tribute to the world of Carnival. This is how the author defended yesterday carnival 2023 poster, Nareme Melián Mahugo, the design with which he emerged as the winner among ten other proposals. He does it for the second time, since in 2018 he was also the winner of the Carnival poster contest, on that occasion dedicated to La Fantasia. Carnival, the city that never sleeps is the title of the work presented by Nareme Melián and with it he got the highest score dual voting system.
After publicly congratulating the winner, the mayor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Manuel Bermúdez, stressed “that this is the beginning of the path of the next Carnival and this act is a tradition over many years, with great artists, and what doubt It is possible that Nareme knows very well the essence of our party and that is how he tries to reflect it”.
The councilor pointed out that “a total of 8,399 valid votes were cast in popular suffrage”, for “a contest that is more alive than ever, in which a total of 40 artists registered, compared to the 16 applicants of the previous edition ”.
For the Councilor for Fiestas, Alfonso Cabello, “the advertising poster is the authentic business card to the world of our fiestas and the starting signal for the hundreds of activities and events that make up the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife”.
“The largest festive event in volume of popular participation, duration and economic impact of the entire national territory,” he added. The mayor recalls that “this edition returns to its usual formats and dates, with just 85 days left for its start.” The winning poster obtained a score of six from the professional jury, which made the pre-selection among the 40 works finally sent to OAFAR and which represented a weight of 60% in the final assessment. Popular support was 39.5% of the 8,399 votes cast through the portal www.carnavaldetenerife.com, which means 3,316 adhesions that make him the winner with a total score of 7,600.
Nareme Melián explained that he wanted to capture in his work “all the people who work behind the scenes. “When the official acts, contests and galas end, the machinery of the Carnival continues to work throughout the year. That is why I wanted to give importance to all the people who are there, seamstresses, choreographers and musical directors, and that was the tribute I wanted to do, and with the mackerel that is the icon of the city, ”she said. Melián assured that this year he was encouraged to present himself because he liked the theme, “and, in a key year, with the return to the street with a certain normality, which is the essence of the Santa Cruz Carnival”. The illustrator admitted that with his first poster he managed to make a name for himself not only within the Carnival, but also in the world of design. “The truth is that since 2018 I have not stopped working,” he added.
The technique used for the work is of a mixed type, starting from a graphite drawing that was scanned and colored digitally. During the popular consultation, which was open between 08:00 on September 29 and 23:59 on October 12, only one vote per IP address was allowed. Throughout the process, the vote remained blind.
The total score of the other nine shortlisted works, including the percentage of the jury and the popular vote, were as follows: El chicharro de la libertad (7,372); New York Strokes (6,892); Carnival Night, shapes and colors (6,424); Color Symphony (5,636); Carnival is freedom (5,252); Carnival 4 Ever (4,484); Miss Liberty (3,744); Freedom lighting up the world (3,588), and Don’t let the flame of fun go out (3,180).
Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of La Laguna
Nareme Melián has a degree in Fine Arts from the University of La Laguna, specializing in Drawing and Illustration, beginning his professional career very soon in the illustrated book sector with La fiesta del Sol y la Luna. In addition, he has held various group exhibitions, such as Islands and Treasures (2010) and Trees in Literature and Mythology (2011), both held at the TEA (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes). He has collaborated with the Rumblé magazine of comics and illustration, as well as with the first collective book of island illustrators, Canarias 1400. As the author of the winning poster, Melián receives a prize of 2,500 euros.
