un pedacito de mar
(in progress)
These images are a work in progress where I reflect on my family history of place and consider the human impact of migration and national borders.
During a trip to Cuba in 2016 to visit family I noticed that almost anywhere I went in Havana I could see at least a little bit of the sea. I thought of the steady stream of Cubans and Haitians that risk everything to get to the other side knowing that the majority of deaths during migration happen at sea.
In an island, the ocean is an ever-present border. In this series I call attention to this border. I juxtapose images from my family archive ranging from 1930’s Cuba to the present in the US and Mexico, with stamped family passports immigration documents. I also include historical images from public archives that document Cuban and Haitian refugees at sea as I investigate my own history of migration within a larger social, political and historical context.
baño de Mabel, Cuba
Nana, Puerto Rico 1932
Abue, Cuba, ca 1932
Ma y Tía Maña, 1935
Nana, Cuba ca140
Ma, Tía Olga y Tía Maña, Cuba ca 1942
Ma, ca 1948
Ma,Cuba ca1949
Ma, tía Maña, Cuba ca1950
Miramar, Cuba 1950's
Ma, Cuba 1954
Ma, Cuba 1955
Ma, Cuban Passport, 1958
Ma, Cuba 1958
Ma, immigration papers, Mexico 1964
Universidad de la Habana, Cuba
Camarioca boatlift, 1965
Ma, US Passport 1965
Ma, Miami 1970s
Ma, US passport, 1975
Florida Keyes, emergency shelter, Mariel boat lift
Haitian boat capsizes off Florida coast, 1981
Miami, 1970's
US passport, 2015 (Mickey)
US passport, 2015 (Cami)
US passport, 2015 (me)
Habana Vieja, Cuba
Miami, 2023