Cuenca’s historic old city stands on a bluff, high over the Tomebamba River. Several huge staircases join the river with the old town, and most of those steps are garnished with contemporary examples of public art. In this case, it is a mural expressing a poetic pause in the middle of a city of concrete and rubber. The stylized faces reminded me of a Picasso sketch – I thought that including the steps in the foreground, diminishing in width as they flowed towards the mural, would suggest the cubistic era in which he worked.