The tale of my family, loss, and tribulation: Exilios de Cardenas follows my grandfather’s experience fleeing Cuba in 1962 with the hopes of encountering better resources and opportunities for the family that was just beginning to grow. Their experience, not unlike that of thousands of other balseros (Cuban rafters), resulted in the raft capsizing, leaving several Cubans abandoned at sea needing to swim back to shore only to be imprisoned underground then later sentenced to penal labor to harvest sugar cane. 

A raft made of ceramic coated fibers has no chance of survival at sea, an exaggeration of the survival rate for immigrants who flee through the sea. Those lucky enough to make it to the next shore must face further tribulation in a country that doesn’t share their language. Those not as fortunate remain with the sea as traces of their existence scatter along the ocean floor in the form of forgotten fabrics.