This artwork proposes an anthropological exploration of Cuban society. In the video, twenty-six mothers from the margins of Cuban society adopt triumphalist rhetoric to offer a story about the marks that violent events have left on their children’s bodies. Scars associated with criminal acts and evidence of injuries suffered in brawls or prisons are compared with the twenty-six wounds received in combat by the independence hero Antonio Maceo. The voices reactivate the associations among family, memory, and official history. At the same time, the shore, the margin, and the liminal delineate changing limits between the family environment and what is socially legitimized by discourses related to “homeland” and “nation” on the island.

Javier Castro graduated in 2009 from the Instituto Superior de Arte and has worked extensively in video, photography, and installation. In his practice, characterized by a sociological approach, he addresses issues such as sexuality, masculinity, marginality, economy, and religiosity in Cuba.