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Pangea Kali Virga departed from their traditional career in the fashion industry to become a full-time artist after their first solo show in 2021 and hasn’t looked back since. Being a full-time artist, arts educator, and event/programming producer has been a dream come true. Pangea crafts experiential, dreamy, fantastical worlds using fiber and community as their medium. Patchworked and embroidered, distressed and woven, worn or hung, their work re-contextualizes waste and beauty in a realm that inspires play, curiosity, and action. Pangea’s work is ornate and resilient, each stitch an intention, every fiber meticulously collaged. They are layered and maximalist with built-up textures that beckon touch and closer examination in a rainbow of colors.
Their work ranges from wall hangings, installation, and sweeping 30ft gowns to delicate palm-sized fiber collages, all lovingly executed with upcycled materials and refuse sourced from the community, that shift the viewer’s understanding of the act of creation and destruction to imagine it as a closed loop cycle. Their creative production is zero waste. The underpinnings of many of Pangea’s projects stem from literature, the natural world, and the drama between native and invasive species, as well as equity through transparency and community action.
Through their fiber art and community outreach via workshops, lectures, and various happenings ranging from fashion shows to massive public art projects, Pangea tries to reimagine the praxis of entrenched and failing systems, highlighting the flaws of consumerist practices in engaging, vibrant, and collective ways. Their work has been published in 60+ international publications, including L’Officiel and Harpers Bazaar, as well as featured on the news, including DecoDrive and Don’t Trash Our Treasure on WPLG.
Pangea’s design work won the 2023 People’s Choice Award for Miami New Times Best Womenswear Designer. Through their practice, Pangea has been awarded the Knight Foundation Art Champion Grant (2022), Miami Dade Individual Artist Grants (3x winner), Awesome Foundation (2022), and CERF+ Get Ready Grant (2023). Pangea Kali Virga is a current Deering Estate Artist in Residence 2022-2024, past ProjectArt resident artist 2021-2023, and past Peter Bullough Foundation AIR (2023). Since moving to Miami, Pangea has produced two massive public fashion shows through their project Miami On Sight, created a utopian arts festival called Ecotopia for the Vizcaya Museum, written a poetry book with Nico titled Sleepwalking With Peggy Noonan with a new book on the way this year titled Fundamental Independence of the Soul, and taught 2,000+ Miamians of all ages through workshops and various programming at the Vizcaya Museum, Miami Dade Public Library, Miami Beach Botanical Garden, Bass Museum, Deering Estate, and more.
Pangea Kali Virga was born and raised in New York and moved to Miami, Florida, in 2019 from Vietnam with their partner and collaborator, Nico Hough. They have found much inspiration in South Florida. Pangea’s studio and showroom is located in Little River and is open by appointment to all visitors! Pangea looks forward to their upcoming workshops at the Deering Estate and is deeply grateful to have access to such an invigorating and supportive institution through the residency program at the Deering Estate.
The Deering Estate’s Artist-in-Residence Program (AIR) seeks to continue the legacy of art patronage by supporting artists who work in various disciplines and media. The AIR Program offers professional visual, literary, performing, and cross-disciplinary artists the opportunity to pursue innovative projects and studio work, connect with other artists, and engage the public while interacting with the historical, architectural, intellectual, archeological, and natural elements of the Estate’s inspiring environment. Since 2006, we have welcomed over 90 shared and collaborative residencies representing a broad scope of contemporary and traditional artistic practices. For more information on the Artist in Residence Program at the Deering Estate, please visit the website.
About the Deering Estate
Deering Estate, located at 16701 SW 72 Ave. in Miami, is a 21st Century house museum, cultural and ecological field station, and a national landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places, owned by the State of Florida and managed by Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department. Deering Estate is designated as one of seven Miami-Dade County “Heritage Parks” which have a vital role in our community’s history, environment and in providing recreational and cultural experiences.
Cultural Arts Programming at the Deering Estate is made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, and The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc.
About the Deering Estate Foundation
For those who treasure the Deering Estate, who advocate for its preservation and wish to invest in its future, The Deering Estate Foundation provides opportunities for individuals and corporations alike to partake in membership, signature events, and one-of-a-kind experiences, all in service of providing vital funding and support to the Deering Estate. Through these efforts, the foundation fulfills its mission to uphold the legacy of Charles Deering’s cherished 1920s-era property, to provide funding for the cultural, educational and recreational experiences it offers, as well as its significant scientific and archaeological endeavors to conserve its diverse flora, fauna and the eight native ecosystems that thrive on its 450 acres, and to ensure its longevity as a prized American heritage site. Established in 1989, The Deering Estate Foundation, Inc. is a community-based charitable 501(c) 3 Florida Corporation and the philanthropic partner of the Deering Estate.
