"Renacer Creativo: José Parlá Habla de Cómo Transformó el Miedo en Esperanza Tras la Pandemia"

José Parlá se disculpa por teléfono por su voz ligeramente entrecortada y ronca. En febrero de 2021, a pesar de gozar de una salud perfecta y no tener condiciones preexistentes, sufrió un accidente cerebrovascular provocado por la Covid-19, que lo dejó en coma durante cuatro meses. “La Covid es un enigma”, explica el artista. “Afecta a cada persona de manera diferente; nadie puede anticipar cómo reaccionará cada organismo.” Durante su estado de coma, Parlá dependió de oxígeno externo y se le realizó una traqueotomía. En ese entonces, ya era un artista de renombre, recomendado personalmente por el rapero Jay-Z para crear el mural en la entrada del One World Trade Center (la Torre de la Libertad), el edificio levantado en el lugar de las Torres Gemelas. También era conocido por otras obras icónicas, como *Diario de Brooklyn* en el Barclays Center.

Doctors were not optimistic about his recovery, fearing he would never walk again. Yet, in just six months, after intensive rehabilitation, Parlá regained his voice, mobility, and memory. Since then, his paintings have taken on greater depth. Today, his work is featured at the Pérez Art Museum in Miami, where his exhibition Homecoming was a highlight of Art Basel Miami Beach. His art is also showcased at the Brooklyn Museum in New York as part of the group exhibition Brooklyn Abstraction: Four Artists, Four Walls.

Answer. During the coma, I was dreaming and when I woke up, I was living that other reality. I was convinced that I owned many hotels around the world and that I had been kidnapped, along with my brother, in Hong Kong. The psychologist told my brother not to tell me what the reality was because I needed time to rehabilitate myself. My memory was very bad, and there are memories that I know I have lost forever. My lungs had no oxygen, I was connected to a machine and had a tracheotomy. Being during the pandemic, my recovery was also difficult. I couldn’t see anyone’s face. I didn’t see my doctors’ faces until a year had passed. What’s more, visits to the hospital were not allowed, and they only let my brother in, dressed in a doctor’s outfit. It was all very surreal. They had told my brother that I would never paint or walk again. My hands were severely atrophied, and in extreme pain. I had to take many pills. After leaving the hospital, I spent a year doing therapy at home, and it took me almost a year to breathe normally again.