Miami Art Week 2022: Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA) Announces Fall Programming

“We are pleased to showcase these impactful and timely exhibitions during Miami Art Week, when the eyes of the global art world are focused on our community,” said Chana Sheldon, Executive Director of MOCA. “Each of these artists aligns with the museum’s mission to offer fresh perspectives, which challenge established narratives and connect diverse audiences to underexplored artists and ideas.”

Debuting this month, Didier William: Nou Kite Tout Sa Dèyè through April 16th, 2023 is the largest retrospective of Didier William’s career. Translated as “We’ve Left That All Behind,” the show presents an in-depth look at the Haitian-born, North Miami-raised artist’s career and memory among the very neighborhood where he once grew up.

Curated by Erica Moiah James, Ph.D, the exhibition will feature over forty works spanning multiple mediums and including some of his newest paintings. Complementing the painted work and speaking to the close relationship of painting and printmaking in William’s practice, are new drawings and artist books. The show also includes William’s first monumental sculpture: a 12-foot tall wooden body emblematic of a religious column present in Haitian worship rituals.

In a blend of personal reflections, biographical anecdotes and art historical moments, some of the works in the show recontextualize historical iconographies and ideas, stripping them of their “known” truths and transforming each into something entirely new. By doing so, William playfully and unapologetically reclaims autonomy over a fragmented record of history, engaging his personal connection to the complexity of immigrant narratives and queer identity to create opportunity for investigation and redemption.

“I want the audience to be involved in that complexity that sometimes will resolve and sometimes won't resolve,” said William. “For which sometimes there might be a translation and other times there might not be a translation. Those moments of failed translation are just as important for me and just as powerful.”

In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum will partner with Ten-Time Emmy Award-Winning Producer and Director, Marlon Johnson to produce a documentary highlighting the artist and will partner with a vast network of scholars to present a series of public programs. The museum will also publish an accompanying exhibition catalogue.​

Opening this month is Kanaval, a retrospective by photographer, filmmaker, Curator and writer Leah Gordon that documents twenty years of Carnival in Haiti. Curated by MOCA Curator Adeze Wilford, the exhibition consists of a series of black-and-white photographs taken on a mechanical medium format camera.

The images are contextualized by a series of oral histories relayed by various troupe leaders, who also oversee the design of the costume and generate the narratives surrounding Carnival. Their stories reflect the wealth of invention, fable and self-generated mythology prevalent in much of Haitian culture. The photographs will be accompanied by a new feature-length documentary on the carnival providing a kinetic counterpoint to the portraits.

“I’m excited to bring Kanaval to MOCA,” said Adeze Wilford, MOCA Curator. “For decades Leah has documented and helped to platform a people’s history of Haiti through her photographs. This exhibition brings that practice further through her new film that provides an incredible perspective to an intergenerational conversation about tradition that is ever evolving.”

Also on view will be VantaBlack’s To What Lengths, which will be open to the public on MOCA Plaza through January 20th, 2023. Selected in MOCA’s 2022 Open Call to artists for its “Art on the Plaza” series, To What Lengths will showcase a key component of VantaBlack’s artistic practice by reflecting on legacy building and preservation as foundational to Black culture and other diasporic peoples. The South Florida-based artist will explore how ideas about legacy are woven into everyday actions by activating five palm trees on the MOCA Plaza with large-scale braids, adorned with beads, metal, and artificial sunflowers and gardenias. The braids of each tree will follow stylings representative of the women in VantaBlack’s family.

“Hair grooming through different braiding techniques has been passed down through the matriarchs of my family,” said VantaBlack. “It is a vehicle for sharing oral history, bond building between generations and a form of caregiving, amongst many other traditions. The positioning of one body between another creates a space of vulnerability. Valuable memories are created and exchanged through this process which also helps develop a lifelong skill.”

Miami Art Week Programming and Schedule
MOCA will celebrate the exhibitions with a Miami Art Week reception on Thursday, December 1st, 2022 to include a VIP reception (invitation only) from 6–8 p.m., and open to the public from 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. The museum will also hold an Artist and Curator-led Exhibition Tour on Saturday, December 3rd, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. The museum will also offer extended hours throughout the week. In MOCA’s continued efforts to include diverse voices and perspectives, the exhibitions will be accompanied by a robust series of educational and public programming.

The museum’s extended hours for Miami Art Week:
• Sunday, November 27th, 2022 – Tuesday, November 29th, 2022: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 30th, 2022.: 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Thursday, December 1st, 2022: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (Open Hours), 6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (VIP Reception by invitation), 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. (Public Reception)
• Friday December 2nd, 2022 - Sunday, December 4th, 2022: 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday, December 3rd, 2022: 11:00 a.m. (Artist and Curator-Led Exhibition Tour)

General admission is $10 for adults; $5 for seniors, students and visitors with disabilities and free for MOCA Members, City of North Miami residents and children under 12.

About the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami
MOCA North Miami presents contemporary art and its historical influences through exhibitions, educational programs and collections. Inspired by its surrounding communities, MOCA connects diverse audiences and cultures by providing a welcoming place to encounter new ideas and voices and nurturing a lifelong love of the arts. MOCA developed from the Center of Contemporary Art which was inaugurated in 1981. The establishment of the permanent collection coincided with the institution’s move into their current building designed by Charles Gwathmey of GSNY in 1996.

For more information visit: https://mocanomi.org/