Vision from Cuba

Nocturnal Collective

Ambassadors 2025: Disruptive Visions from Cuba

This year’s Posterheroes is collaborating with Nòcturnal, a collective of Cuban designers and visual artists who are redefining the graphic design landscape on the island and beyond.
The group – composed of Michele Miyares Hollands, Raúl Valdés González (Raupa), Nelson Ponce Sánchez, Edel Rodríguez Molano (Mola), and Giselle Monzón Calero – brings a powerful voice to the project, blending aesthetics with civic engagement, social critique, and emotional depth.
As Posterheroes Ambassadors, their role is to support and amplify the project’s core values, promote the call globally, and offer fresh interpretations of the theme. Each ambassador also creates one or more inspirational posters – not part of the competition – that will be celebrated through exhibitions, communications, and inclusion in the 2026 Favini calendar.

The decision to invite the Nòcturnal collective as official ambassadors for Posterheroes 14 stems from a shared vision with Michele Posocco, Marketing Director at Favini, who proposed the collaboration. A special thanks go to Luigi Bardellotto, a collector of Cuban posters, acted as the mediator between Nòcturnal and Michele Posocco.

In the complex Cuban political and cultural landscape, visual communication becomes an act of resistance, a poetic tool, and a space for critical expression. Their collective voice offers a vital lens through which to explore empathy in radical, unconventional, and deeply human ways.

mola

michele

nelson

rapua

Giselle

Edel Rodríguez Molano — MOLA

Edel Rodríguez Molano, known as MOLA, is a graphic designer, illustrator, and audiovisual producer born in Havana, Cuba, on June 21, 1982. He graduated in Graphic Design from the Instituto Superior de Diseño (ISDi) in 2006 and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Throughout his career, he has created designs, posters, audiovisuals, and illustrations for various institutions, including the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC), the Instituto Cubano de Artes e Industria Cinematográfica (ICAIC), Pernod Ricard, Havana Club, and UNESCO. From 2007 to 2011, he taught Illustration to third-year graphic design students at ISDi. His posters have been exhibited in Cuba, France, Germany, England, Argentina, Spain, the United States, Finland, and Switzerland. He has received several prestigious awards, including the Caja Alta Award from UNEAC in 2014, 2nd Prize at the Mexico Poster Biennial in 2014, 1st Prize at the Bolivia Poster Biennial in 2015, Best Poster Award at the Miami Film Festival in 2019, Poster Coral Award at the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in 2020, Design Excellence Award from Communication Arts in 2021, and Illustration Excellence Award from Communication Arts in 2022. His work has been referenced in various specialized publications, such as Arte Cubano magazine, Étapes magazine, SLANTED Magazine, and books like Cuba Gráfica and Masters of Serigraphy Posters.

Michele Miyares Hollands

Michele Miyares Hollands is a graphic designer born in Havana, Cuba, in 1976. She is a graduate of The Havana Institute of Design (ISDi) and later joined its faculty. She has collaborated with every major cultural institution in Cuba. Her Poster Design for The Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry (ICAIC) has been a highlight of her career. Her work has been exhibited in Cuba and internationally and has been reviewed in national and international publications. In 2016, she was invited to participate in the “50/50/50 – Fifty years, 50 posters, 50 Designers” exhibition for the 50th anniversary of The International Poster Biennale of Warsaw. She also collaborated with the Museum of Natural History of New York for their comprehensive exhibition “¡CUBA!”, creating the illustration publicizing the event and exhibiting some of her own posters

Nelson Ponce Sánchez

Nelson Ponce Sánchez is a Cuban visual artist who graduated in Visual Communication Design from the Instituto Superior de Diseño (ISDi) in Havana in 1998. He began his career at CITMATEL (1998-2004), designing user interfaces for digital media. From 2004 to 2016, he worked at Casa de las Américas, promoting cultural events and designing publications. From 1998 to 2010, he taught Illustration and Poster design at ISDi and has lectured on these topics in universities across America and Europe. He is currently the principal design specialist and coordinator of design events and exhibitions at Fábrica de Arte Cubano. As an independent artist, he has primarily collaborated with cultural institutions such as the Instituto Cubano de Arte e Industria Cinematográficos (ICAIC), creating event imagery and film posters. He also worked with the Instituto Cubano del Libro (ICL), designing covers and illustrating publications, and with record labels, designing album covers and promoting musicians and events. He has received awards for user interfaces for digital media, logos, brands, posters, book and album covers, and video clips. In 2013, he was awarded the National Design Prize by the Instituto Cubano del Libro. In 2023, he received the Eduardo Muñoz Bachs design award from UNEAC. His work has been widely exhibited both within and outside Cuba, in countries such as the USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, France, New Zealand, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina, and has been referenced in various specialized publications.

Raúl Valdés González — RAUPA

Raúl Valdés González, known as RAUPA, is a Cuban graphic designer, illustrator, animator, and audiovisual director, born in Havana in 1980. He graduated from the Instituto Superior de Diseño (ISDi), where he also taught Illustration, Poster Design, and Kinetic Design. His career is characterized by a distinct visual language, integrating expressive synthesis, symbolic use of color, illustration, animation, and video. He has focused on graphic design, motion design linked to film, and the tradition of the Cuban poster. For 12 years, he was responsible for the audiovisual image of the Casa de las Américas. Between 2006 and 2014, he handled promotional campaigns for the ICAIC Young Exhibition, leaving a recognizable mark on young, cultural, and contemporary graphic design. He also designed campaigns for the Havana International Festival of New Latin American Cinema. In the audiovisual field, he has co-directed award-winning music videos and over 300 commercials for international brands like Havana Club. His film work includes creating posters and animated intros for films such as Conducta and 7 Días en La Habana. He has been invited to exhibit and lecture at renowned institutions like the University of South Florida and the Pratt Institute, and has participated in group exhibitions. He currently works as an independent artist, responsible for the visual imagery of numerous events and institutions in Cuba and abroad. In 2025, he received the Muñoz Bachs Prize, recognizing his outstanding career in graphic design and illustration.

Giselle Monzón

Giselle Monzón, born in Santa Clara, Cuba, currently resides in Tampa, Florida. She graduated in Graphic Design from the Instituto Superior de Diseño in Havana. Throughout her career as a designer, she has collaborated with various Cuban cultural institutions, such as the Center for the Development of Visual Arts and ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry). Her achievements include the Coral Award at the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, as well as first prize in the cultural poster category at the 2015 Bolivian Poster Biennial. In keeping with Cuba’s rich tradition, her posters are often produced using silkscreen printing. Giselle is part of the Cuban design group Nocturnal, where she and other colleagues and friends explore new frontiers between art and design.