Forget what world leaders say. If you want to understand what they are really up to, look at the painting that hang behind them at press conference and summit meetings, or when they pause with apparent spontaneity along a corridor to answer a reporter's question. The silent stare of a poised portrait gazing at you over the shoulder of David Cameron or Vladimir Putin is often more loaded and more deliberately orchestrated than you might think.

    For example, President Obama's recent trip to Cuba in March 2016 was considered his boldest step. His controversial agenda was to reset diplomatic relations between the two nations. However, it was a painting by a Cuban artist that ____ [12] ____ the show. Among the more awkward events on Obama's Cuba itinerary was a meeting with a group of political dissidents, many of ____ 43 ____ fear the thawing of relations between Washington and Havana will only embolden the repressive tendencies of Cuban presidents Raul Castro by legitimizing his resign. Enter Michel Mirabal, a contemporary Cuban artist whose sprawling painting My New Friend provided the striking backdrop to the meeting.

    The work stretched evocatively behind Obama as he sat at a long table to discuss the concern of the Cuban government's detractors. It featured side-by-side representations of the Cuban and US flags constructed loosely of red, white, and blue handprints ____ [14] ____. As a subliminal symbol capable of capturing, on the one hand the plight of those oppressed by the Cuban government's, and on the other hand, Obama's commitment to ending sanction against Cuba, the painting ____ [15] ____. The hasty blizzard of anonymous handprint has the feel of street art or something illicitly constructed: a compression of innocence that recall the clay moulds made by children in kindergarten. At the same time, the two flags appear to be visual anagrams of each other. Each consists of the same handprint merely arranged in different combinations, as if subtly to imply that the two countries are essentially inseparable.

[13] ....