Altars in the Dwellings of Memory

Altars in the Dwellings of Memory materializes a psychological landscape of otherness and memory crisis. As a child of the Cuban Revolution during the Special Period, a time of extreme economic adversity, I have conflicted feelings about my idealized childhood in Cuba as opposed to the country’s reality and uncertain future.

Highlighting labor-intensive processes such as collecting, tearing, breaking, joining, weaving, knotting and assembling textiles and found materials, I navigate syncretic processes and the complex and fluid nature of history and identity.

This body of work references Egungun masquerades and the Prayer to Our Lady, Undoer of Knots and explores concepts of nationhood and collective memory, as well as their impact on personal or individual perception. By investigating the history and roots of a divided nation through a visual language, this installation seeks to understand the impact of identity politics, migration and time, as well as collective and personal memory.

Masqueraders in This Never-Ending March, 2019, seven sculptures ranging from 6- 10 feet tall, fibers, discarded textiles and wire