Visions of Venezuela and Cuba From Exile

"Otherworldly forms greet you at the entrance to the exhibition, transporting you into a kaleidoscopic, dream-like space. A voice speaks in the background as projected images dance across the forms, animating the space. "It's been really beautiful to see her work come alive, become a landscape ... where you can traverse and kind of get lost," curator Fabiola R. Delgado says of Lisu Vega's "The Uncertain Future of Absence (El Futuro Incierto de la Ausencia)" (2025)."

"Shortly into the new year, the Trump administration carried out strikes on Caracas, Venezuela, and captured President Nicolás Maduro. Maduro's capture brought relief to many Venezuelan expats. But coupled with legally dubious boat strikes, detentions, and deportations already dominating recent headlines around Venezuela and the Caribbean, fear and confusion continue to radiate outward from DC to diasporas in the region."

Immersive installations by Lisu Vega, Reynier Leyva Novo, and Amalia Caputo create dreamlike landscapes that animate forms with projected images and sound, inviting visitors to traverse and become lost. The installation The Uncertain Future of Absence transforms sculptural forms into a landscape that responds to presence. The exhibition is located near Washington, DC, where recent strikes, detentions, and deportations connected to Venezuela and the Caribbean have heightened fear among diasporas. The show contrasts national political violence and immigration enforcement by offering alternative perspectives on memory, identity, and the fluid, impermanent nature of presence and absence.

Read at Hyperallergic