Manuel Mendive (b. Havana, 1944). He is one of the leading Afro-Cuban artists working today. His family practiced the Regla de Ocha, or Santeria. He cherished his Yoruba roots from the West coast of Africa. Mendive graduated from the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts in 1963. Since the beginning of his artistic career, he has exhibited at many group and solo art exhibits around the world. In 1968, he was awarded with the Adam Montparnasse prize for his painting exhibit at the Salon de Mai, in Paris, and third prize at the Salón Nacional de Artes Plásticas, in Havana. In 1994, Mendive received the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres award from the Minister of Culture and Francophony of France. Today, his art is part of private and institutional collections in Cuba, Russia, Somalia, Benin, Congo, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Jamaica, and the United States, among other countries.