Mein Vorschlag übernimmt den Quelltext Deiner Matrix weitgehend.
\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix, arrows.meta}
arrows.meta, calc}
\begin{document}
\newcommand{\myfigure}{%
\begin{tikzpicture}[line width=0.4mm, scale=1]
width=0.4mm]
\def \lrW {3} %Number of columns
\def \lrH {3} %Number of lines
\definecolor{data}{HTML}{e3e3e3} % gray color
\def \height {1.0} %height
\def \width {1.0} %width
% building submatrix
\draw [draw=black, fill = data] fill=data]
(0,0) rectangle +(\lrW*\width,\lrH*\height)
;
\draw [thin, color=gray, xstep=\width cm, ystep=\height cm]
(0.01,0.01) grid +(\lrW*\width-0.02,\lrH*\height-0.02)
;
\end{tikzpicture}
}
\begin{tikzpicture}[
>={Latex[length=3mm]},
font=\sffamily% für serifenlose Schrift
]
\matrix [
matrix of nodes,
nodes in empty cells,
column sep=2cm,
row sep=1cm,
row 1/.style={anchor=center},
row 2/.style={anchor=center},
row 3/.style={anchor=center}
] (ae) {
Text & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & \\
Text & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & $\cdots$ \\
Text & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & \myfigure & \\
& Text & Text & Text & Text \\
& Text & Text & Text & Text \\
};
\draw
\foreach \row in {1,2,3}{
\foreach \col in {2,3,4,5}{
\coordinate (ae-\row-\col-e)
at ($(ae-\row-\col.north west)!1/6!(ae-\row-\col.south west)$)
;
\coordinate (ae-\row-\col-a)
at ($(ae-\row-\col.north east)!1/6!(ae-\row-\col.south east)$)
;
}
}
\path [->] (ae-1-2.east) + (0,1) to[out=0,
(ae-1-2-a) edge [out=0, in=130] ([yshift=1cm]ae-2-3.west);
\draw [->] (ae-2-2.east) + (0,1) to[out=60, (ae-2-3-e)
(ae-2-2-a) edge [out=60, in=200] ([yshift=1cm]ae-1-3.west);
\draw [->] (ae-3-2.east) + (0,1) -- ([yshift=1cm]ae-3-2.east-|ae-3-3.west);
(ae-1-3-e)
(ae-3-2-a) edge (ae-3-3-e)
;
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
