It’s Miami Art Week, the time when curators, collectors, and art lovers descend to take in the exhibitions, lectures, and parties throughout the Magic City. For many artists, it’s more than showcasing their work; it’s about making a statement about the state of the world. They use their canvases and exhibits to take a stance on social justice, offering interpretations of how we’ve been affected by the past and how to heal moving forward. For them, art is activism, and we get to live and learn through their creations.
This year, there’s no shortage of artists taking up space to reflect on resilience, perseverance and self-love. Here are seven — from Art Basel to Revolt Art Fair — you shouldn’t miss during your Art Week adventures in the 305.
Kara Walker, Art Basel
Walker’s art, whether in sculpture or her famed black cut-paper silhouettes, explores race, gender, sexuality, violence, and identity. Her work on display, The Gates of Hello! (2024) showcases beautifully painted cut-out silhouettes, but the message is harrowing. It depicts bodies falling, as if thrown overboard during the Middle Passage or dumped in a mass grave. Her imagination, though brutal, explores her reflection of society as a whole.
Tiffani Glenn, Point Comfort Art Fair + Show
Tapping into her background in animation, Glenn’s work centers around the representation of the Black diaspora with an emphasis on Black women. Her playful and whimsical paintings focus on self-love and self-acceptance, exploring how Black women are viewed in society. Her goal is to foster relatability and challenge society’s imposed beauty standards.
Halim Flowers, Art Miami
This visual artist and activist is speaking out for the rights of those behind bars, something he can personally relate to. Through his group Initiative Artonomics, he focuses on empowering artists and transforming creativity through comprehensive education and mentorship. Presenting at the DTR Modern booth throughout the ART Miami Fair, his work speaks to his dedication to understanding the importance of activism in overcoming and achieving a better life.
Joe Minter, Art Basel
Minter’s work has challenged viewers for more than four decades. Having experienced work in factories and construction in his early years, he began his artistic journey in the 1980s, with works embedded with slave ships, balls and chains, and furnace grates symbolizing bondage and the hell of enslavement. But at the heart of his creation has always been themes of ingenuity and resilience. Now in his eighties, he continues to tell those stories, presented by MARCH and Parker Gallery, tapping into what he has witnessed from the depths of Jim Crow to the complexities of modern-day technology.
Shani Crowe, Revolt Art Fair
Working from Chicago’s South Side, Crowe’s intricate designs center on cultural coiffure, adornment and beauty rituals. The multitalented artist weaves intricate corn-rowed hairstyles and then captures them as large photographic portraits. Her work relates to the diasporic African and how these practices function as tools to foster connectivity. With each strand and twist, she washes away bias and stereotypes tied to Black hair by showing the beauty and power rooted in the coils and textures of African American locks.
Daveed Baptiste, Revolt Art Fair
Incorporating fashion, textiles, and photography is at the heart of Baptiste’s work. Drawing on his migration from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to Miami, Florida, the interdisciplinary artist investigates notions of race, gender, and class within the Haitian community and the broader Caribbean diaspora. His most recent fashion collection, “Soaring High” tells migration stories in the current political climate, with “each look embodying a step along the way.”
Judy Bowman, Point Comfort Art Fair + Show
Hailing from Detroit, Bowman taps into vibrant hues, textured paper and acrylic paint to illustrate a narrative that moves beyond institutional racism and disparaged perspectives of the Black experience, which America too often limits. The mixed-media artist considers herself a visual griot, with a mission to tell stories that reflect her coming-of-age story in Detroit’s East Side and Black Bottom neighborhoods.