Over sixty years ago 100,000s Cubans gingerly stepped out of planes onto U.S. soil. I would imagine that many were greeted with similar looks that questioned, "What are you doing here?"
Considering the fact, that unless you are a Native-American, most likely, at one point or another your ancestors have also heard "What are you doing here?"
Have you ever wondered, "What are you doing here?" Why did your ancestors settle for example, in a Northern state? Or maybe your relatives began their life in the East. What trail of events did your life or the life of your ancestors follow resulting in the location you now find yourself in?
As I recently looked at the pictures of the sweet Cuban children, that I met on my trip, I could not help but wonder, "Why are you still there?"
As I looked at the sweet face of a Cuban-American art student of mine, I could not help but wonder, "How did you get here?" What series of events led to two children, around the same age and the same cultural heritage, living in two different countries?
For my upcoming research, I plan to explore the series of events that brought Cuban-Americans to the United States. Many of the Cuban Americans living in the United States arrived during the 1960's, 1980s, 1990s. In order to resurrect these events, I plan to use multi-generational story telling. These colorful stories will then be depicted in the artwork created by the youngest generation of Cuban-Americans.
On October 9th, the one year anniversary of my trip to Cuba, I will be conducting research at a school near Miami, Fl.
My research topic is: "How does cultural heritage reveal itself in the artwork of the Cuban-American student?" I plan to share the stories, artwork and photos that will be gathered with you on this blog.
Here is the link to the school where I will be conducting my research.
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