Balsero Freedom Flotilla, is an installation constituted of a series of mixed-media, collage paintings, hand-tied nets, sand and cushions. The collage paintings are made in the spirit of a hopeful, future Cuban exile making a raft. Old magazines were scavenged for pictures of objects and pieces of things that could be collaged together to make a simulated sailing vessel. The various images of adult and children's shoes serve as stand-ins for individuals who attempt the journey.
The collage rafts as finished products are considered the Art, however, so is "the process" of gathering scarce, unlikely materials and fusing them together to make the rafts. This active process of "making do with whatever one can find" is a typifying daily preoccupation in Cuba, an island where commodity scarcity pushes citizens to their limits as they try to fulfill daily needs.
The collage rafts as finished products are considered the Art, however, so is "the process" of gathering scarce, unlikely materials and fusing them together to make the rafts. This active process of "making do with whatever one can find" is a typifying daily preoccupation in Cuba, an island where commodity scarcity pushes citizens to their limits as they try to fulfill daily needs.
"BALSEROS: FREEDOM FLOTILLA," 2013, MIXED MEDIA INSTALLATION: HAND-PAINTED COLLAGE ON PAPER, ETCHING, PHOTO LITHO TRANSFER, INK, CANVAS, COFFEE-STAINED GAUZE, PILLOWS, COFFEE-STAINED, HAND-TIED NETS OF HOUSEHOLD STRING, CORN HUSKS AND SAND, DIMENSIONS: 12'H X 10'W X 2'D.
CENTER INSTALLATION: "BALSEROS: FREEDOM FLOTILLA," 2013