Find OLCDC on Social MediaShare your META photos with us

Use our hashtags

@opalockaartOpalockaart@opalockaart

#METASeries#TheARC#opalockaart

Dudley Alexis, the son of an economist and businesswoman, moved to Miami in 1999 from Haiti at the age of 15. In high school, his artwork was noted for great achievement both in Fine Art and Digital Art. In 2006, he earned his BA from Miami International University of Art & Design. As a filmmaker, Dudley creates works that have a positive and inspiring impact on his audience. In his forthcoming documentary, Legacy of a Dream, Dudley will explore and connect his audience to the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., in an innovative way and reintroduce him as a man and a leader to an entirely new generation.

Onajide Shabaka’s practice is concerned with historical/biographical themes related to geography that include African diaspora and Native American cultures. He studied at the California College of the Arts and received his MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Onajide has participated in various international art residencies, most recently San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Everglades National Park, Florida. He lives and works in Miami, Florida.

Rodrigo Richardson is a St. Croix-born visual and culinary alchemist. His mixed media work tells the stories, the myths, and the cosmologies of his own diverse Caribbean heritage and of the wider African diaspora. His work not only honors his indigenous and African background, but is also aimed to expunge the lasting vestiges of colonialism. Drigo has shown his work in Florida, New York, the US Virgin Islands, Canada and Mexico.

The artist commonly known as M.O.A.L will also present an installation entitled “M.O.A.L: Cultivating the God Gene.”

Mordecai Ray (MOKHAI) is a graphic artist from Miami, Florida. He was born with a great sense of creativity and was rarely seen without a marker, paint brush, or a pencil in his hand. Since early childhood, his creativity was nurtured with crafts and projects ranging from creating banners to building model cities. In his spare time, MOKHAI would read comics and even dabbled in creating a few of his own. By his teenage years, he knew that he wanted to become an artist. He attended the Art Institute and majored in Media Arts and Animation.

Saddi Khali is a writer, producer, and image evangelist, a throwback to when artists believed art could change lives. Using the diaspora as his canvas, Saddi’s traveling “Decolonizing Beauty” movement is an intense exploration of vulnerability and courage, and his passionate contribution to a healing arts renaissance, which fearlessly intends the restoration of black love and black beauty.

Charles Humes Jr. work may well be characterized as a type of social realism or “humism.” The essence of his art is to create in its purist form that which cannot be duplicated or explicitly explained by others. His work is a unique invention made by hand and mind. Charles’ work portrays thoughtful vignettes of the plight and circumstance of people, particularly the genre of the African-American and people of color. His paintings are a personal expression of the character and drama prevalent in people and their particular environments.

Duwane Coates was born in Havana, Cuba. He is an Afro-Cuban millennial that speaks openly about his political views. He is a filmmaker, video artist, photographer, painter and conservator. Duwane’s current work is mostly about migration, neo black identity, racism in Cuba and Afro-Cuban culture. He is inspired by the life and work of the Cuban film maker, Nicholas Guillen Landrian. His work has been exhibited extensively in Europe.

Jackson Shuri is a multimedia artist creating works of varying sizes, hues and textures. Her art is a constant process of exploration, both of ideas and that of materials. She received her BFA in Art Education from the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University in Greenvale, New York. The artist practices between New York and South Florida. For more about Jackson, see Jacksonshuri.com

Rafael Santana Vargas was born in the Dominican Republic and relocated to Miami in 1989. His current work focuses on immigration, incarceration, Dominican culture, Afro-Latino identity and issues of race and racism in the Dominican Republic. He holds a BA in Visual Arts from the International Fine Arts Academy.

Dinizulu Gene Tinnie is a New York-born, Miami-based visual artist, writer, independent researcher, semi-retired educator and activist in cultural arts, historic preservation, and social justice issues. His formal academic background is in foreign languages, linguistics, and literature. He is the Co-Director of the Dos Amigos/Fair Rosamond Slave Ship Replica Project and is active in creating a Middle Passage Coalition network and information clearinghouse for those engaged in Middle Passage history and heritage.

Sunday, February 21, 20161:00 to 4:00 p.m.

The ARC: 675 Ali Baba Ave.Opa-locka, FL 33054

Exhibition runs February 21 – March 15, 2016

AfroCool: The Rise of Black Atlantic Art in South Florida

The term “Black Atlantic” was coined during the early stages of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade -- between the 16th and mid-17th centuries to describe the emerging subculture of those people who found themselves among a new African Diaspora. The word “cool” originated in the 1920s. It described the emotional essence of jazz, alternately referred to as Black Classical Music. Cool described a certain feeling of smooth sophistication, technical virtuosity, innovation and improvisational mastery that pushed the boundaries of style and vision.

This multi-media show tackles many diverse themes and issues that are on the minds of people of African descent in South Florida. These issues include: neo-black identity, race, self-determination, decolonization of beauty, black spirituality, the figure, black code, feminism and migration -- in short, the strength of black cultural identity. AfroCool aesthetic is graphic, edgy, political, colorful, narrative, metaphysical and futuristic -- a panoramic view into the history of Black Atlantic peoples in the world.

Ludlow Bailey is the Managing Director of G&A International Consultants, Inc. (marketing, public relations and business planning firm) and a Curator of Global African Diaspora Culture. Mr. Bailey is a globalist whose passion is world art and culture. He believes that Contemporary Africana Culture (music, dance, art and film) represents some of the world’s most spirited, esthetic and inspiring popular culture. Mr. Bailey is also currently Managing Director of CADA, a multi-media platform designed to present and promote the visual art culture of the African Diaspora. www.cada.us. Mr. Bailey has attended many of the world’s leading art fairs and museums and is very informed about the art market in London, New York, Paris, Johannesburg, Chicago, Berlin and Miami. Ludlow holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Brown University, where he was awarded a Watson Fellowship which allowed him to study Contemporary African Philosophy at the University of Ghana, the University of Dakar and the American University in Cairo. He earned his Masters in International Affairs degree from Columbia University.

The Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC) mission is to transform neighborhoods by capitalizing on community assets, empowering residents and creating community and economic initiatives that serve as a catalyst in promoting sustainable development.

META is a monthly series to engage Opa-locka and greater South Florida by showcasing unique artists and cultural endeavors to build and support our creative community.

Learn more at www.olcdc.org and www.opalockaart.com

ABOUT :

CURATOR :

AfroCool: The Rise of Black Atlantic Art in South Florida