Pérez Art Museum Miami. Published on Jun 20, 2017

Sandra Ramos, whose work is part of "On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection," is a visual artist from Cuba known for her surrealist expression depicting her relationship to Cuba’s political and social situation.

"The open suitcase was a medium to make public the private and social reality of Cuban people. From this first experience I created others installations, boxes that looked like coffins, treasure trunks containing dreams about trips, homesickness and death."

Ramos' Migraciones II (Migrations II), formed as part of a larger installation produced by the artist for the 5th Havana Biennial, presents the artist's critique of the discrepancies between official government ideologies in Cuba and the harsh realities of life on the island during "the special period" of the 1990s. This small suitcase references those used by children for yearly, mandatory school trips to farms in the Cuban countryside. The inside is decorated in a style that references illustrations from government schoolbooks. Commenting on the propaganda conveyed through these education materials, this work presents ideological heroes of the revolution as Catholic saints, alongside ironic political slogans. These are mixed with other "lessons" depicted, involving exile migrations from the island. Presented in May of 1994, the piece anticipates the massive exodus of balseros that occurred later in autumn of the same year.

See her work through September 10, 2017 as part of On the Horizon: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection.