Private View | Rafael Trelles: Caliban at October Gallery, London

October Gallery presents Caliban, the second solo exhibition by Puerto Rican artist Rafael Trelles. In this powerful new series, Trelles transforms one of Shakespeare’s most contested characters into a potent symbol of Indigenous resistance to colonial domination.

Known for his dreamlike, magico-mythical paintings, Trelles creates richly layered worlds in which light, shadow, flora and fauna converge. At the centre of this exhibition is Caliban, the original inhabitant of the island in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, whose land and freedom are seized by the exiled Duke Prospero.

Trelles radically reverses Shakespeare’s perspective, presenting Caliban not as a ‘savage’ subject to be controlled, but as a figure of dignity, resilience and agency.

Drawing on the writings of Cuban intellectual Roberto Fernández Retamar, Trelles explores the connections between ‘Caliban’, ‘cannibal’ and ‘Caribe’, linking the character to the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. This historical and linguistic resonance becomes deeply personal for the artist, who states: “In this precise sense, I am Caliban.”