Strong central figures, with ample parts of magic and color, fill the paintings of Nancy Reyes Suarez. Every square inch is filled with figures, designs and color. Self-taught, she watched people paint on the beach in Cuba, and used sand and flowers to create short-lived but beautiful art on the beach. Today she uses a variety of materials – cloth, used ballet slippers, pencils, pens and palette knives  – to make raised, tactile paintings. She creates little plastic cones to outline the embossed figures and then uses sand and talcum powder to create the volume.

She describes her work as a combination of painting and handicrafts that expresses the environment around her – the city and the countryside – each with energy, light and the spirituality of the Santeria, which she practices. “My art is comprehended by my family and my community,” Suarez says. “What I paint is the expression of our rich culture. I express what is our daily life in Cuba. Our ancestral practices are alive and strongly represented in all artistic manifestations.”