In my work series Entrails of the Earth, I explore caves and subterranean landscapes through the Taíno myth of Cacibajagua, a place understood as a

site of origin, emergence, and transformation. I approach the cave not simply as a physical space, but as a cosmological and historical one — a womb, a

refuge, and a living archive connecting human beings to the earth and to ancestral memory. These spaces were once sites where Taíno communities re-

sisted colonization and later became sanctuaries for enslaved Africans fleeing plantations, forming shared histories of survival and creolization. Through

painting and image-making, I bring these layered histories into the present moment, reflecting on rest, resistance, and our profound interconnection with

the natural world, and each other. In Entrails of the Earth, I seek to highlight the universality of the human experience of seeking refuge, and to position

the myth of Cacibajagua in dialogue with origin myths and subterranean cosmologies found across a plurality of cultures.