The Café Recuerdos project focuses on the popular Latin past-time of drinking café - coffee serves as a memory catalyst for Latin-American immigrants here to remember the community that is absent, and it is also a way of connecting with their new home in America. The project aims to commemorate the Latin American experience, celebrating the hyphenated reality of becoming Latino-American: honoring the past - allá and embracing the present and future here - aquí.

The visual component takes the form of a functional peddlers cart with a bottom base made of steel and scrap metal, and the top side walls made from Café Bustelo coffee cans attached together (see illustration above). It measures 30” x 6’ x 6’ and it’s used as a temporary installation both at indoor and outdoor locations. It has narrative on the front wall made of Café Bustelo coffee cans, with the painted likenesses of Latino immigrants in Rhode Island who have been interviewed, plus other Latinos in the state.

At each location, we will dispense coffee — the smell of coffee is a way to bring people over to visit us. The cart encourages community engagement in public spaces: we set up a temporary café with bistro chairs and tables, and invite visitors to have a plática over un cafecito — to drink their coffee and share stories with us.

Public engagement was also intended to be a part of the fabrication process of the cart. Flores’s intention was to reach out to other community artists, students and fabricators to assist with the construction of the project, while, Martínez engaged young people in the collection of community stories at various local venues including schools, libraries and community organizations statewide.

Do you drink Café Bustelo? Do you know anyone who does? We are looking for donations so we can serve hot coffee while the Café travels around the state. Contact us if you have cans or funds to donate to purchase supplies — coffee, cups, creamer, napkins, etc.

During that time, I always felt unsettled because I felt I was missing an important piece of Latino history in Rhode Island: the Cuban story. In the late 1950s and early '60s, what happened in Cuba had a broad impact around the world and the nation when Fidel Castro came to power. With funds from RICH, I set out to research and learn how this history of Cuban immigration to Rhode Island had impacted Rhode Island.

I then reached out to Cuban artist, Ana Flores, with plans to interview and add her story to the oral history collection. Instead, of contributing her story, Ana suggested a more creative way for her to participate.