Flores returned to Cuba in 2002. Forty years had passed since she and her family arrived in the US as political refugees in 1962. The pilgrimage had a profound and defining impact on her sense of identity and vision as an artist. The resulting sculptural installation entitled, Cuba Journal, is multi-layered with political, cultural and personal imagery. Flores has chosen to convey complex themes such as her own family's exile, Cuba's history and Castro's dictatorship in a deceivingly simple folk art style that includes sculptural toys, puppets and furniture. Text, music and video elements are woven into this participatory installation. All of the work is made out of found and recycled materials as a tribute to the creativity and resourcefulness that she witnessed on the island.
The installation as a whole is available as a traveling exhibit or as separate sculptural components, the artist also does multi-media presentations, a combination of image and text from her memoir, "Madonnas, Milagros and Cafe con Leche," a richer narrative that grew out of the journal entries that accompany "Cuba Journal."
