Initiated in 1997 by artist Alexis Esquivel and by art critic Omar Pascual Castillo, who organized the exhibit Queloides I Parte, the project was later led by the late art critic Ariel Ribeaux Diago, who organized two important additional exhibits: Ni músicos ni deportistas (“Neither musicians nor athletes,” 1997), for which he wrote an award-winning essay, and Queloides (1999).
The title makes reference to the scars of racism, on the one hand, and to persistent popular beliefs that there are "natural" differences between whites and blacks.
As Alexis Esquivel (2005) explained, “I, as well as other colleagues had many questions and concerns about racial prejudice in Cuba, and I was convinced that through art we could express a valuable and instructive point of view...
In 2010 historian Alejandro de la Fuente and artist Elio Rodríguez Valdés organized a new edition of the exhibit, titled Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art.
Designed with a comprehensive and inclusive view, one of the exhibit's major achievements has been to include representative artwork that covers the diverse array of techniques and strategies used in contemporary Cuban art to address the complexity of the cultural and social processes of racialization.
Furthermore, the 2010 Queloides exhibit included the work of three women artists who had not participated in the previous shows: Belkis Ayón, Maria Magdalena Campos Pons, and Marta María Pérez Bravo.