“The Tower of Snow,” cast in bronze and standing over eleven feet tall, is a poignant testament to a significant historical event by Cuban-born artist Enrique Martínez Celaya. This sculpture, erected in 2012 and now a part of the Miami-Dade College Permanent Art Collection, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Operation Pedro Pan. The operation was a clandestine exodus of over 14,000 Cuban minors to the United States from 1960 to 1962, facilitated by the Catholic Welfare Bureau of Miami in response to fears of indoctrination and family separations by the newly established communist regime in Cuba.

Martínez Celaya’s work is deeply personal, reflecting his own experiences of displacement after leaving Cuba as a child. “The Tower of Snow” stands as a physical and symbolic embodiment of the collective memory of those children—known as Pedro Pans—who faced the daunting challenge of forging new lives in a foreign land. The artist’s engagement with the theme of longing and belonging echoes throughout his oeuvre, and this sculpture is no exception. It gives form to the abstract emotions of loss, hope, and the search for identity that the Pedro Pans, including Martínez Celaya himself, experienced.

The dimensions and material of the sculpture—132 x 89 x 64 inches of solid bronze—impart a sense of permanence and gravity to the work, juxtaposing the idea of snow, which is transient and delicate. This contrast speaks to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of adversity and the enduring impact of childhood experiences on one’s identity.

Martínez Celaya’s statement highlights the universal nature of displacement and the search for a sense of belonging. His realization that his personal feelings were part of a larger narrative shared by the Pedro Pan children led to a transformation in his perception, from isolation to a shared experience that transcends individual stories.