As the curatorial foundation for this joint exhibition: the island as body, the body as frontier, the home as archive, intimacy as resistance.
What unfolded was a dual journey: that of Lianet Martínez, working from within Cuba, and of Liza Camila, based in the United States. A third journey emerged—that of the viewer, who was invited to traverse the visual and emotional terrain the two artists laid before us. Both began with the female body as a site of memory, politics, and transformation, placing it at the heart of their creative inquiry. In their hands, the body was not mere representation—it became material, language, intimate gesture, and collective mirror. Through sculpture and photography, they constructed a space where personal narratives resonated with broader cultural histories, and where intimacy became a portal to the universal.
Lianet Martínez invited us into her series Cartography of an Island—a body-born series, yet one that did not treat the body as a closed entity, but rather as a territory in transit.
Lianet constructed a personal map of lived experience, where each fragment—molded, marked, bled—became a sign, a trace, a vestige. Presented within antique Cuban bronze frames, carefully restored to hold a new narrative, her works functioned as contemporary reliquaries.
They contained not only physical matter—resin, blood, glass—but also memory, history, and vulnerability. The resin pieces preserved parts of her body subjected to the molds of the present: visible and invisible structures that constrained, pressed, or transformed. The photographs—printed on glass microscope slides with traces of blood—revealed apertures: microscopic wounds or symbolic thresholds leading inward.
This cartography did not follow conventional coordinates. There was no North or South. Instead, there were titles that acted as stations of meaning: Trace, Punctum, Offering, Origin, Beneath the Surface, Volcano (to name a few).
Each proposed an emotional or symbolic place to pause and recognize oneself. For although the body represented here was shaped by a singular artistic vision, the gesture of offering it—fractured, fragmented, alive—was also an invitation to the mirror: as woman, as human being, with all the strength and vulnerability that entails.
Cartography of a Body was, ultimately, an exercise in location. Where did the self begin? In what part of the body was the memory of a decision, a pain, a desire stored? Could a fragment speak for the whole? The series did not seek definitive answers, but resonances. It suggested that within every body lay a map—and that this map, though singular, could be read by all.
The first thirteen pieces in this series—seven in resin and six in photographic glass—were made available for the appreciation of the South Florida art community. They included:
Trace, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Sutures, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Revelation, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Beneath the Surface, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Containment, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Volcano, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Origin, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Whisper, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Offering, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Glimpse, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Punctum, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Retreat, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Peephole, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
The first thirteen pieces in this series—seven in resin and six in photographic glass—were made available for the appreciation of the South Florida art community. They included:
Trace, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Sutures, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Revelation, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Beneath the Surface, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Containment, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Volcano, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Origin, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Whisper, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Offering, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Glimpse, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Punctum, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Photographic paper and the artist’s blood on microscope slides, within an antique bronze frame.
Retreat, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
Peephole, 2025
From the series Cartography of a Body
Body molds of the artist cast in polyester resin and fiberglass, set within an antique bronze frame.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.
The Kendall Art Cultural Center (KACC), dedicated the past six years to the preservation and promotion of contemporary art and artists, and to the exchange of art and ideas throughout Miami and South Florida, as well as abroad. Through an energetic calendar of exhibitions, programs, and its collections, KACC provides an international platform for the work of established and emerging artists, advancing public appreciation and understanding of contemporary art.
READ MORE
The Rodríguez collection is a blueprint of Cuban art and its diaspora. Within the context of the new MoCA-Americas the collection becomes an invaluable visual source for Diaspora identity. It represents a different approach to art history to try to better understand where we come from to better know where we are heading.
READ MORE
