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Opa-locka event celebrates all forms of fine art from the Diaspora, December 1st – 4th, 2022
The Opa-Locka Community Development Corporation Inc.’s (“OLCDC”), Art of Transformation (AOT) is making a bold return to Opa-locka from December 1st – 4th, 2022, on the occasion of Miami Art Week, Art Basel Miami Beach 2022 and the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau’s Art of Black Miami, 2022.
Three exceptional art exhibitions: This Here Place: Africa and the Global Diaspora, A Beautiful Human Love and The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born will greet visitors in the City’s center on Ali Baba Avenue from the Historic Train Station, the ARC, to the Hurt Building on 490 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-Locka, FL 33054.
The four-day, three-block event which boasts free admission to the public, connects Africa and Europe to the Americas through re-imagined, re-purposed and transformed spaces, pop-up street parties and concerts; a Culinary Trip to Africa at the Historic Train Station, and the grand finale block party with live music and performances, Miami Art Week Exodus to Opa-Locka Festival, scheduled for Sunday, December 4th, 2pm-10pm.
“We are excited to be able to bring the Art of Transformation to our diverse community,” stated Willie Logan, President and CEO of OLCDC. “Our audiences deserve this type of high quality, world class programming,” continued Logan. “We strongly believe that the arts can serve as a cornerstone for economic development and they are the embodiment of a community’s structure of value, the basis of a people’s worldview and how they see themselves and their place in the universe.”
For Alfonso Brooks of AFRIKIN®, the team behind The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, “this is a unique opportunity to showcase the best of African and African Diaspora arts and cultures during Miami Art Week and Art Basel Miami Beach 2022.” Brooks concluded: “Our aim is to have people walking away saying “wow, just wow!”
“The City of Opa-Locka is thrilled to partner with OLCDC, soon to be known as the Ten North Group, to present the Art of Transformation, a 4-day celebration of contemporary art from Africa and the African Diaspora all happening during Miami Art Week in the heart of our beautiful Moorish designed City”, commented Veronica Williams, Mayor, City of Opa-locka. “This opportunity to view the best the art world has to offer will enthrall our residents and visitors, and inspire and educate our youth, as we partner with schools to share our collective love of art with the them”, added Mayor Elect John Taylor, City of Opa-locka.
The Art of Transformation will also feature Special Conversations among artists, curators, scholars and collectors conceived to address issues in politics and aesthetics and their resonance in the contemporary era, including the very special Africa Becoming Panel Discussion scheduled for Saturday, December 3, 2022, from 11:00 a.m. to 12 noon at the ARC, which is a featured event on the official Art Basel calendar and which includes African masters Abdoulaye Konaté from and Viyé [Vita] Diba from Senegal: Africa Becoming Panel Discussion | Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (artbasel.com).
The Art of Transformation locations
The Historic Opa-locka Train Station at 490 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-locka, Fl, 33054
The ARC at 675 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-locka, Fl. 33054
The Hurt Building at 490 Opa-locka Blvd, Opa-locka, FL, 33054
Maison AfriKin at 650 Ali Baba Ave, Opa-locka FL 33054
ART OF TRANSFORMATION ART EXHBITIONS
This Here Place: Africa and the Global Diaspora 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. Curated by South African Tumelo Mosaka, the exhibition brings together six international artists from OLCDC’s fine art collection, including African Masters Abdoulaye Konaté from Mali, Senegalese Viyé Diba, and Barthélémy Toguo from Cameroon.
The Beautyful Human Love is built on the letter to humankind titled, “La Belle Amour Humaine,” written by Haiti’s Jacques Stephen Alexis in 1957 and inspired by Lyonel Trouillot’s novel by the same name. The 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 author’s son.
The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born, a play on the title of Ayi Kwei Armah’s novel is curated and presented by Alfonso D’Niscio Brooks and the talented team at AFRIKIN®. It features an array of acclaimed international, mid-career and emerging artists from the world stage.
For Alfonso Brooks, “the artists assembled in this exhibition have defied their otherness to enter mainstream art history to ask, “In whose eyes am I not beautiful?” with the words of Ayi Kwei Armah 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.”
The Art of Transformation will also feature Special Conversations among artists, curators, scholars and collectors conceived to address issues in politics and aesthetics and their resonance in the contemporary era.
