Bridges of Ink, Stitches of Memory: the Print of Us

Bridges of Ink, Stitches of Memory: The Print of Us explores my multicultural heritage, blending my Cuban, American, and Trinidadian roots through screenprint, ink, coffee, and thread. The screenprints in this project—images of family members, landscapes, historical events, food, and cultural touchstones—are created on diverse materials: paper, coffee filters, and burlap. The coffee filters evoke the daily rituals of family life, while the burlap and paper represent both the fragility and resilience of cultural identity.

Each print is a moment captured in ink and coffee—representing not just the images themselves, but the aromas, textures, and emotional connections that define the family experience. The individual prints are cross-stitched together, both literally and metaphorically, intertwining fragments of history, geography, and memory—symbolizing the beautiful fusion within my own blood. This act of stitching mirrors the way my identity is woven from many different sources—my family’s individual stories stitched together by the larger tapestry of our shared heritage.

Through this work, I invite viewers to reflect on the complexities of identity and the ways our stories, like ink and thread, are intertwined. It is a tribute to how memory, culture, and history are passed down and stitched into the fabric of who we are.