The Event will feature three very special art exhibitions. The first is This Here Place: Africa and the Global Diaspora, which is inspired by a quote from Toni Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” where Morrison describes the nightmare of slavery and calls for a reimagining of the past and an embrace of a future reality infused with love. The exhibition, which brings together six international artists from OLCDC’s collection, including African Masters Abdoulaye Konaté from Mali, Senegalese Viyé Diba, and Barthélémy Toguo from Cameroon, is curated by South African Tumelo Mosaka.
The second exhibition titled A Beautiful Human Love, is built on the letter to humankind titled, “La Belle Amour Humaine,” which was written by Haiti’s Jacques Stephen Alexis in 1957 and which inspired Lyonel Trouillot’s novel by the same name. A Beautiful Human Love presents slices of Haitian Art History through the wo/men, stylistics, and movements that have shaped the aesthetics of this great nation of the Caribbean. The exhibition participates in Alexis’ 100th birthday celebrations and is curated by Haitian American, Jean Jacques Alexis, the son of the author.
The third exhibition is curated and presented by Alfonso D’Niscio Brooks and the talented team at AFRIKIN® and is titled: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, a play on the title of Ayi Kwei Armah’s novel. It features an array of international, emerging, and mid-career artists of acclaim from the world stage. The artists assembled in this exhibition have defied their otherness to enter mainstream art history. They question, “In whose eyes am I not beautiful?”, with the words of Ayi Kwei Armah coming to mind, “Alone, I am nothing. I have nothing. We have power, but we will never know it, we will never see it work. Unless we come together to make it work.”
”Along with the exhibitions, throughout the five-day event, Special Conversations among artists, curators, scholars, and collectors have been conceived to address issues in politics and aesthetics and their resonance in the contemporary era.
“The Art of Transformation” will not stop there. Throughout the five-day Event, the Opa-Locka community, visitors, and guests will be treated to re-imagined, re-purposed, and transformed spaces, pop up street parties, and concerts. Events include a Culinary Trip to Africa at the Historic Train Station, an Urban Oasis – a garden to engage the senses (including a butterfly garden), and the culminating event on Sunday, December 4th, 2022, a grand finale block party and spiritual revival titled: Miami Art Week Exodus to Opa-Locka.
Artwork by Abdoulaye Konaté
Art of Black Miami
