Sandra Ramos (born Oct, 1969) is a Cuban contemporary painter, printmaker, collagist, video and installation artist who explores nationality, gender, and identity in her work.
Ramos currently lives in Miami, Florida, and serves as an artist in residence at Bakehouse Art Complex.
Sandra Ramos Lorenzo was born in Havana, Cuba to two native Cuban parents, and she now lives in Miami, Florida.
She was heavily inspired to become an artist by the painter Gloria González, the grandmother of Ramos's close childhood friend, curator Wendy Navarro.
Her sister, Liane, gives tours of Ramos' Havana studio and runs small xylographic workshops as her assistant.
The personal experiences that derived from these hardships are what propelled the content of her work, which communicated a sense of isolation, grief, and loss.
According to her website, she has been curator of the 7 editions of La Huella Múltiple event and other Cuban contemporary art exhibitions.
[12] Ramos uses a variety of mediums for her art, which include, paintings, etchings, collage, installations, and digital animation.
[4] Ramos has been explicit about how her art, not only intersects with social, political, and global issues, but also is made with intent of making a critical statement about the future.
In her art, she expresses deep feelings of loss and mourning that are associated with choices of her family, friends, and her partner in life.
[1] In addition, she is known for the visual expression of her relationship to Cuba's political and social realities, especially those that relate to the Cuban diaspora.
[15] The character's face is a self-portrait of the artist that is utilized in a surreal context similar to that of the protagonist from Alice in Wonderland.
Her work lends itself to be a narrative that plays on the adventures of Alice in Wonderland, but instead her character is a childlike explorer of Cuba under the Fidel Castro regime.
In her story, she falls in love with Athenian hero, Theseus, and plays a crucial role in helping him slay the Minotaur.
Another common theme in Ramos’ piece is the use of water that emphasizes a physical separation to express a sense of isolation and to, as well as demonstrating the fluidity in her life.
When speaking about the artist, Cuban art critic and curator Gerardo Mosquera, Ramos is “.. an artist who surrenders her biography, her most intimate feelings and her own body to discuss social, political and cultural problems, has said of her work…She uses her portrait to personify the Cuban flag, the island, establishing a parallel between her personal situation and the suffering of her own country."
[1] Mayer Fine Art Gallery in Norfolk, Virginia, calls Ramos's work “groundbreaking” and says she is “amongst the first to challenge and expose the harsh realities of Cuban life.