I was asked by the Foundation Carmen Conde-Antonio Oliver to create a digital media piece on the work of Spanish poet Carmen Conde (1907-1996). I was delighted by the opportunity to strengthen my study of the Spanish language, which I had started on my own about a year earlier. Little did I know how much I would struggle with the poetry, looking up every few words in the dictionary. The verses were rich and powerful, pounding at my heart to be heard, to overcome the frustration of the language barrier.

Like Conde, I was deeply moved by my first visits to Latin America. Her images of the sea, the voyage from Cartagena in Spain to Managua in Nicaragua, the awe and fear of the tropical wilderness, the jungle waiting hungrily to take over the city; all this reminded me of my trips from New York City to Caracas, Venezuela. In this piece I created an ocean journey with Conde’s words as the white crests of waves crashing onto a new shore.

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