El Recuerdo

In "El Recuerdo", I explore my Cuban American heritage through live and recorded performances. Just as our bodies hold inherited memories, water and rope can be infused with emotion and time. "El Recuerdo" reflects on the strength my grandmother exhibited throughout her life. My grandmother and mother were abandoned by my grandfather shortly after their arrival in the United States from Cuba. My grandmother, a non US citizen, overcame these unexpected hardships, returned many times to Cuba by boat from America, settled in Key West, and created a new life for my mother and herself. And, my grandmother returned years later by boat to Cuba to rescue family members and bring them to America.

Recently, I felt called to revisit and wash my grandmother's grave in a six-minute recorded performance titled "Water". Simple white cloths were used to remove dirt from the gravesite while quietly marking the surfaces with ephemeral gestures of love and invisible care.

"Rope,” is a thirty-minute live performance, in which knotted rope spreads across my body providing the support structure needed to suspend from the gallery ceiling, allowing me to swing with seemingly effortless ease across the gallery. The presence of rope and minimal gestural movements reference the physical and emotional intensity of my Abuela’s journeys across the ocean, the rolling nature of the sea, and intertwines our past, present and future histories.

Both performances will be reimagined and performed as I continue to examine my heritage, the relationship I have with my body, and the ongoing impact of time to shift these perspectives.