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Edén 1991-92 gelatin silver print, 13 x 11 in., with Edén, 1970, original Cuban stamp Lent by the artist Inspired by an historic Cuban Christmas stamp from the last year before the revolution, Navidades appears to be abstract from a distance, but a closer look reveals historic scenes of the Cuba that existed before 1960. Meaning "nativity," the word Navidades identifies a nostalgic memory of Cuba in the years just prior to the artist's birth—and Castro's regime. Similarly, in Edén, Martínez-Cañas recreates a Cuban stamp from negatives she cut and taped together to form a collage, which she then printed on photographic paper. Her constructed view of Edén is much more complicated than the simplified pastiche of Cuban rural life depicted in the original stamp. 25 | Martina López | Michigan City, Indiana Promising the Past 2 | 1995 silver dye bleach print, 50 x 40 in. Lent by the artist, courtesy of Schneider Gallery, Chicago, Illinois In the foreground, Promising the Past 2 is an innocent but disconcerting portrait of a woman and child, but in the background, it is a haunting memento mori (reminder of death). Poised among the headstones of an old cemetery, the ghostly figures of the background stare out intently at the viewers. To create these images López makes digital scans of historic photographs and manipulates them creatively on a computer screen. They are constructed histories that re-animate figures from the past to play new roles in the present. 26 | Juan Sánchez | Brooklyn, New York Mi más bella flor II | 1995 oil and mixed media on wood, 46 x 66 in., Lent by the artist Mi más bella flor II is one of Sánchez's many works dedicated to women. It is the artist's heartfelt tribute to his beloved daughter, who appears as the centerpiece of this secular shrine. The sweetness and innocence of the young girl are echoed in the pink frame and silk flowers that adorn the work. 27 | Naúl Ojeda | Washington, District of Columbia The Witnesses | 1999 woodcut on paper, 24 x 80 in., Lent by the artist Ojeda's large woodblock prints often focus on stories, legends, passages of life, or aspects of transformations from one state to another, from one place to another, or from one homeland to another. His witnesses here
