(b. Havana, Cuba, 1948; d. New York City, 1985).
Born in Havana, Cuba, she lived in the United States from the age of 13 as an exile. She studied painting in the University of Iowa, Iowa City, where she received a BA in 1969 and MA in 1972; however, after becoming influenced by Santeria, post-colonial thought and feminism, she began to do site-specific works using the very earth and the country in which her works are located to articulate her ideology. She has traveled to Oaxaca, Mexico, and Cuba where she expressed colonialism and identity by placing these works in a land exploited by colonists, the old Spanish colonists and the new colonization from first world countries. Further more, she explores religion and ritual, from sacrifice to transcendence, in her works, using the ground as the body or earth would be used in the ritual. Her work highlights those cultures that have also rebelled the colonist rule by maintaining their own beliefs and traditions as much as they could.
|
