My sculptures are a multi-layered exploration of the fragility of memory and home; the memories and stories that places and people carry with them. I come from a Cuban household heavily influenced by Caribbean customs and traditions which fuel my work. As the first person in my family ever born in the United States, I took on the role of translator and grew up speaking both Spanish and English. This early introduction to the complexities of language, and the identity derived from it, has led me to the work I’m most interested in today.
The work carries a sense of controlled chaos which is borne of the conflicting ideals of family, home and spirituality between my mixed American and Cuban upbringing; coming up with new ways to convey nationality while bridging the identities of these two seemingly disparate worlds. One way I accomplish this is by expressing the importance of language and communication, in the form of writing in both Spanish and English. I transform these writings into sculptural components to demonstrate how language and memory is embedded in all that we do. The installations use space and time to produce a new narrative that I’ve created. Like my family’s tradition of cleansing a space, I use my installations as a cleansing of memory and time.