Claribel Calderius
Claribel Calderius (Cuba, b.1986) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores memory, vulnerability, displacement, spirituality, and care through processes of weaving, embroidery, and material transformation. Trained in Socio-Cultural Studies at the University of Havana, she first gained recognition for Los niños de la patria (The Children of the Nation), a series of collages and photographic assemblages that brought visibility to children living in Cuban orphanages and challenged official narratives of care and belonging.
Since relocating to Mérida, Mexico, in 2020, Calderius has increasingly incorporated natural fibers such as jute into her practice, using weaving as both a material process and a metaphor for healing, memory, and connection. Drawing on Afro-Cuban traditions, ancestral knowledge, and the experience of migration, her works create immersive environments in which the spiritual and the everyday converge. A significant development in this direction was her solo exhibition Sensemayá. Cánticos para matar a la culebra at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (CAAC) in 2025.
El que Mira de Espaldas También Está Siendo Mirado, 2026
Jute, acrylic, threads, recovered fabrics and Randy's clothing
130 x 102 cm | 51.2 × 40.2 in
The observer is part of the system they observe. Drawing on the experience of growing up in Cuba, Calderius reflects on the pervasive climate of surveillance that characterizes authoritarian regimes. In such contexts, trust itself becomes fragile: one can spend years building a life with another person—sharing a home, a family, and intimacy—only to discover that the relationship was shaped by mechanisms of investigation and control. The work speaks to the psychological consequences of living under constant scrutiny, where fear and suspicion can become so deeply ingrained that even the closest familial bonds are called into question.
Las Cabezas se Conocen en el Cruce de los Caminos, 2026
Jute, acrylic, threads, recovered fabrics and Randy's clothing
113 x 145 cm | 44.5 × 57.1 in
Rather than the destination, Calderius is interested in the mystery of the encounters that occur along the way. The work reflects her enduring fascination with the lived experiences of others and the invisible forces that draw certain people into our lives. Suggesting a connection between the visible and the unseen, it evokes open maps where different memories, temporalities, and presences intersect.
Central to the work is the notion that human relationships may extend beyond the limits of conscious memory. Calderius imagines encounters as moments of recognition—instances in which two people meet and experience the uncanny certainty that they have known one another before. Regardless of origin, age, or geography, such connections appear to precede memory itself, belonging instead to a realm that only the unconscious can access.
El Camino de los Signos, 2026
Acrylic, thread, jute, cedar, delcron
95 x 40 x 22 cm | 37.4 × 15.7 × 8.7 in
In this work, Calderius approaches the body as a repository of memory, carrying traces of trauma, desire, care, and resilience. The work reflects on how lived experiences remain inscribed within us, suggesting that every form of power—whether personal or political—leaves a lasting mark.
Pacto Social XXXVII, 2024
Acrylic, thread, jute, cedar, delcron
37 x 22 x 22 cm | 14.6 × 8.7 × 8.7 in
In this work, Calderius examines silence as a mechanism of social control and the lasting psychological effects of growing up under authoritarian rule. Drawing on her personal experience in Cuba, she reflects on how censorship and fear can become internalized to such an extent that speaking out no longer feels like a right, but rather a forbidden possibility.
The work addresses the inherited weight of repression and the ways in which authoritarian systems shape individual consciousness long after the immediate threat has passed. For Calderius, breaking silence is not simply an act of expression but a process of unlearning deeply embedded fears. Encountering life beyond these structures can reveal the extent to which such conditions have been normalized, prompting a difficult reassessment of what is considered natural, permissible, or free.
Pacto Social XL, 2024
Acrylic, thread, jute, cedar, delcron
37 x 22 x 22 cm | 14.6 × 8.7 × 8.7 in
In this work, Calderius reflects on the creative potential of prohibition. Drawing on her engagement with Yoruba spiritual traditions, she responds to the historical exclusion of women from certain forms of religious symbolism by developing a symbolic language of her own. Rather than accepting silence or absence, the artist transforms restriction into a site of invention.
The work proposes a personal visual vocabulary born from what could not be named or represented. For Calderius, prohibition does not suppress expression; instead, it becomes the very condition from which new forms of language emerge. Through this act of symbolic creation, she reclaims agency and expands the possibilities of belonging, knowledge, and representation.
