Nora Delabat

Miami, FL

“I make art because it heals my soul. I am a survivor.  I came from a big family in Cuba, have worked since the age of 10, I came on a boatlift to Miami, survived a revolution, communism, exile, loosing my career, my husband’s sickness and me becoming blind. Through it all it has been a beautiful life. There is always a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Nora Delabat (she/her/hers) is a woman of incredible spirit and resilience who has been through many trials in life and continues to remain hopeful (and creative) through it all.  Nora was born in Havana, Cuba and now currently lives in Miami where she resettled after the communist revolution.  Nora worked as a teacher in Cuba, then as a sales manager in Miami but developed vasculitis, an eye condition which  caused her to become legally blind and unable to continue working.

Nora describes this unexpected “disability” as a blessing in disguise because it allowed her to find a hidden talent that she never knew was there.  Faced with her dramatic loss of vision, Nora struggled to find new ways to engage with the world and connected with The Miami Lighthouse for the Blind where she was introduced to art.  She describes:

“I never studied art in the traditional sense, I discovered my hidden talent  in my 50’s only after I became blind as a form of therapy to deal with my sadness of partial loss of my sight. At the beginning my art was primal, almost childlike how kindergarten students start to play with art. After a bit of instruction on technique, my art began to evolve to the point where most people see my art at the same level as a professional artist!”

By sharing her art and her story, Nora hopes “to inspire all kinds of people who are blind whether partial or complete, to demonstrate that a disability can be a blessing in disguise. Life is not always what we plan but with all its twists of fate some beautiful some not so great, there is always magic left in the universe. I want to transmit hope through my paintings."