One of the most prominent artists of the Cuban new generation, Sandra Ramos's self portriat as a woman-"island of Cuba" appears in the cover of Art Cuba, edited by Holly Block and published by Abrams, New York, 2001. Solo exhibitions include Inmersiones y enterramientos,( Immersions and burials), FIAC 2000, Paris; Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City and Galería Havana, Havana (1999); Dos cubanas soñadoras (Two Cuban dreamers), Galería Space 21, Tokyo, Japan (1998); Autoreconocimiento del pez (Self recognition of Fish), Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City (1997); Cruzar las aguas. Fundación Ludwig de Cuba. Convento de Santa Clara, Havana and Stadtische Burggalerie, Aachen, (1995) and Criaturas de Isla, Galería Nina Menocal, Mexico City (1995). Her collective shows include.

De Discretas Autorías, Cuba y Venezuela, Nuevas poéticas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo Mario Abreu, Maracai, Venezuela (1998), and exhiabitions at the Barbican Center, London; Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany; I.I.C. Contempiorary Art Gallery, Jerusalem; Kunstlerahaus, Graz, Austria; Whitechapel Art Gallery, London; XI Engraving Exhibition, Curitiba, Brasil; Haus del Culturen del Welt. Berlin, Germany (1995) and the Havana Biennial, 1994.

Por qué se parecen tanto la lluvia y el llanto? Instalación. Gotas de vidrio, agua (800 m2) 1999.In Immersions and burials, Ramos presents two installations that will be shown at Art Basel Miami Beach. One is made of glass drops which are reflected on the "sea of tears" mirrors, on the opposite wall. Titled "¿Por qué se parecen tanto la lluvia y el llanto?", the 100 tears of glass, all of different sizes and actually filled with water, are placed both on the floor and hanging from the ceiling.

The other installation is a beer pipe, titled "Maquinaria para ahogar las penas". The blue sea is reflected in a tube covered with mirror paper, and it is also seen in the video inside the pipe. Water is the symbol of death and escape. It refers to those who have left Cuba by going into the sea. At the same time, the pipe is full of beer, implying that both water and beer provide equal means of evading everyday problems.

Maquinaria para ahogar las penas (Machine for Drowning Sorrow)"Maquinaria para ahogar las penas" ("Machine for Drowning Sorrow") is an interactive example of an object representing the "style" of the urban poor. In Havana, the beer pipes are hooked behind a tractor and are usually left in shanty towns, with someone selling beer very cheaply. People come to get drunk, have fun and forget about their daily struggles. This is, in a sense, a spiritual evasion, a way of dreaming of another world. Ramos's piece and her message become even more powerful because of the video of the sea. While the spectator is actually drinking beer from the art work, he or she is hearing and seeing the sea, feeling it move, and thinking about a different kind of evasion that is even more physical: the literal escape of the "balseros".

In all three works, Ramos uses water as a unifying element and as the symbol of death and escape. Water refers to those who have left Cuba by going into the sea. In the tears installation, water symbolizes the artists's feelings of loss and pain. Tears are shed when we confront situations in the world that have no solution. In the drawing installation, water appears as a cycle that links nature with human beings and human feelings. Finally, water also symbolizes genesis, a means of birth and revival.

Ramos has been working during the last nine years within the context of the specificity of everyday reality in her native Cuba. In Immersions and burials, the central idea is the exploration of representations of marginal city culture.

In this work, which is generally autobiographical, one can appreciate the melancholy that touches Ramos. The artists's themes run deep in the everyday lives of the marginalized people of Latin America, who at the same time possess a peculiar cultural energy that gives them the internal strength to keep living and hoping. Despite the exclusion, this rich culture expresses itself in the way in which people have fun, feel the music, and dance; in the way they experience religion through "santería"; and in the way in which they understand poetry.