Mapping Miami, 2009 – present
Mapping Miami is a public art and archive project about Miami’s artistic past. The focus of the project is to locate, research, and share cultural art history through geographic spaces – sites where artists, including visual artists, dancers, musicians, and actors/actresses, have lived, produced work, or visited. These sites are the touchstone of the project as they provide real places to visit and learn about Miami’s cultural arts history. Combining my work as an artist and a cultural anthropologist, I am creating several components including an interactive web-based map, an online archive, distributable cards with maps and information, and downloadable podcasts. My goal is to produce a project that combines art and scholarship to facilitate broader public knowledge about our history and the arts as well as moves people into spaces around the city in new and unexpected ways.
Mapping Miami is significant because historical information about Miami is largely forgotten in a city that prizes what is new. While much focus is placed on Miami as the new “hot arts destination” by the New York Times, Art News, and the Miami Herald for its contemporary arts scene, I want to recognize the historical foundations of our thriving arts environment. The 1920s – 50s are the initial focus; a time period sandwiched between the founding and development of Miami (1896 – 1920s), and the population boom after the 1960s. Many significant artists visited, lived, and produced artistic works here (including Desi Arnaz, Esther Williams, and Zora Neale Hurston), and these sites hold a great deal of value for the community and for our visitors.
I have recently been awarded a grant from Arts of Citizenship at the University of Michigan. During 2011 – 2012, I will partner with the Deering Estate at Cutler Bay to continue developing the project. This project has also been awarded a Community Grant (2009) to develop the infrastructure for the project from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.
Website in progress: http://mappingmiami.com