Artist Roberto Lugo: Street Shrines Debuting At Miami Art Week

Artist, Activist and Educator Roberto Lugo is driven by the twin forces of form and narrative. A Multi-Disciplinary Artist whose practice crosses boundaries between pottery, graffiti and poetry, Lugo mines the legacy of European and American ceramic production to challenge historical narratives and uplift largely overlooked individuals and stories. Juxtaposing traditional pottery forms with portraiture and imagery inspired by his North Philadelphia Roots, Afro-Latino Heritage and love of Hip-Hop and Popular Culture, Lugo’s work explores broad themes ranging from inequality to racial injustice.

For Street Shrines, Roberto Lugo will activate both the Wolfsonian Galleries and building exterior with a sense of contemporary urgency. Reflecting on the history, experience, and heroics—grand and every day—of often-ignored Black and Brown communities, Street Shrines places the Artist’s work in dialogue with The Wolfsonian’s collections, investigating ideas of culture, community and resistance. The Exhibition will showcase both new works by Lugo inspired by the museum’s significant collection of 19th and 20th Century European and American Ceramics as well as recent works that address Historic and Contemporary Abolition Efforts, Police Violence, Musical Icons and his own family’s connection to the Caribbean Diaspora.

An exterior mural will wrap the building and animate the streetscape of both Washington Avenue and 10th Street, weaving together South Florida stories of Caribbean communities. Connecting gallery to street and collection to present-day life, Lugo's work invites us to reconsider who and what is worthy of commemoration in Miami's History and in the broader world.

“Lugo’s work is resonant and immediate,” said curator Shoshana Resnikoff. “It speaks to the here and now, but is deeply rooted in the past, engaging with both political history and the legacy of ceramics production — an approach that could not be more fitting for The Wolfsonian, where we continually grapple with questions of historical ‘truths’ and contested narratives.”

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. The Museum is open Wednesday–Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Fridays are open late and FREE from 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Contact us at: (305) 531-1001. Or visit us online at: www.wolfsonian.org.