Hispanic and Latinx people have contributed a lot to the history and culture of Miami. So it’s no surprise that there are a lot of great ways to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month across the county. OLCDC is joining the celebration this year, too, with music, art and entrepreneurs.Arsht on the Road inOpa-lockaOur celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month will continue with another Arsht on the Road event in Opa-locka at the ARC outdoor courtyard on Saturday, September 25th, from 5PM - 8PM. Guests will enjoy a musical pop-up by the Cuban duo MonteroS, family-interactive art celebrating Hispanic culture, light refreshments, and a guided tour of our current exhibition, Casting Shadows | Framing Histories. The event will end with a sunset walking tour of the Opa-locka Light District, featuring original poetry by local residents projected onto sidewalks and buildings along Opa-locka Blvd.Claim your free tickets for this event online today so that we can celebrate with you!RSVP to Attend!Recognizing Art by Hispanic and Latinx ArtistsOLCDC believes that art has the power to uplift both the human spirit and communities, so we strive to provide access to quality arts programming, public installations and exhibitions. We also have an extensive private art collection, including several pieces made by Hispanic and Latinx artists. Here are a few:Yanira Collado (b. 1975, Brooklyn, NY) Que ya estan en el olvido: Meditations on Amalgamations, 2020Mixed media, wood, textiles, found objects 26” x 30” OLCDC Art Collection Que ya estan en el olvido: Meditations on Amalgamations is a site specifically sourced edition with multiple entry points, functioning as an intervention between reclaimed materials and ephemera sourced in the surrounding neighborhoods of Miami. An inquiry into social, emotional and physical fragmentation, it is further focused on rebuilding and intersecting textiles as a form of linking cultures, geographies, personal and public histories that may not seem related but whose historical narrative links their customs, rituals, spirituality and architecture together. It’s part of a series of 26”x30” quilts/interventions made from components such as textiles, found paper, books and small construction materials, mounted into a custom-made wood frame. The back of each wooden structure includes a 5”X6” drawing on blue carbon paper alluding to a geographical index of the materials sourced. The bottom of each wooden structure sits on a half-inch shelf.Gonzalo Fuenmayor (B. 1977 Barrangilla, Colombia) Political Contortions, 2020Archival ink print on smooth matte photo paper 11” x 8.5” OLCDC Art Collection Fuenmayor presents an uncanny scene where a ballroom dancer -cropped to the knee- attempts to gracefully dance to Charleston and tap dance rhythms usingpineapples as shoes. The artist is intrigued by the idea of how the exotic is created or established as a trademark and of how, during this process, it ends up as a standard. The result is an eerie and nostalgic commentary on transculturation dynamics.Eduardo Roca "Choco" Salazar (B. 1949, Santiago de Cuba) Untitled, 2016 Collagraphs on wood OLCDC Art Collection Master of collagraphy like no other in Cuba, his solid pasting and sensual volumes identify him among his contemporaries as the most advanced among the figurative expressionists with a vocation for abstraction. Choco is like his painting: delicate and at the same time expansive, penetrated by chiaroscuro and seductive by nature. His seduction compels us to savor his paintings with pleasure, to submerge into the rubber and the cellulose, to find support on the wood and linoleum, on the metal and vinyl. He takes us by the hand to a world where the aroma of tropical fruits, the arms and legs of bodies that mix in their ethnicity are captivating, to affirm the identity values of the island, to help us understand a cosmos he has created with his roots and his blood. Nobody pretends to decipher the mystery of his painting; it remains submerged in the artist’s heart. But indeed, in his art lies the essence of Cubanness, that forgotten essence; and what was forgotten he rescues with the tools of his talent and sensibility, and to which he grants universal rank. Choco knows that only art accompanies us on the adventure of transgression and metamorphosis. His work contributes to a better understanding among us as human beings, because in it we discover another road to the kingdom of fantasy we all hope to reach, and where art always leads us; this time by the hand of the great Choco.Follow OLCDC on social media throughout National Hispanic Heritage Month to learn more about these pieces and the artists that created them. You’ll also have a chance to view these art pieces in person when you join us at the Arsht on the Road event at the ARC on September 25th.
