Mural by participants at South Dakota State Penitentiary (2023) is part of Moving Beyond Bars at ICA Miami opening this weekend.
On Saturday, Aug. 9, The Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) will open "Moving Beyond Bars," an exhibition featuring large-scale artworks and written pieces created by women incarcerated at Florida Women’s Prison and men from two South Dakota prisons.
The show runs through Saturday, Aug. 16 inside ICA Miami’s Expansion Space (former De La Cruz building) at 61 NE 41st St., Miami.
A gallery talk and panel discussion from 5 to 7 p.m. on Saturday features panelist Suzanne Costello, the director of “Moving Beyond Bars” and is the co-artistic director of SPDT, Stuart Pimsler Dance & Theater.
Joining her will be Sophia Diehl, SPDT administrator and program assistant.
The show includes murals, written reflections, video, and soundscapes, providing a window into the experiences and resilience of the participants.
Over the course of a three-week residency, led by Costello and visual artist Ariadne Albright, 32 inmates engaged with various art forms to address themes such as identity, connection, and influential women, aiming to spark dialogue between different communities through shared artistic expression.
Admission is free at ICA Miami. The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. At noon daily is a free tour.
Also worth a visit is “The Realities We Dream” at Mahara + Co. Gallery.
Curated by Heike Dempster and Ross Karlan, The Realities We Dream brings together six contemporary artists — Pedro Delgado (Brazil), Ernesto Gutiérrez Moya (Cuba), Jodi Minnis (Bahamas), Pedro Troncoso (Dominican Republic/NYC), Manuela Viera-Gallo (Chile), and Pedro Zhang (Portugal).
Rooted in the Fernando Pessoa-inspired notion that “the only reality is that which we dream,” the show blends the extraordinary and the everyday:
- Pedro Zhang’s paintings strip everyday objects of time and place, imbuing them with enduring emotional presence.
- Jodi Minnis channels the mysticism of her grandmother’s Caribbean garden.
- Ernesto Gutiérrez Moya paints romantic, mythical gardens and fountains.
- Pedro Troncoso explores diasporic narratives through domestic and discarded objects.
- Pedro Delgado depicts the coastal and cultural spirit of Northeastern Brazil in dreamlike form.
- Manuela Viera-Gallo sculpts surreal birds layered with political and social commentary.
Mahara + Co. is located at 224 NW 71 St., Miami. Info at (786) 498-8706 or Mahara-co.com.
Shows Not To Miss Coming up:
Goldman Global Arts Gallery will unveil "Beyond: Echoes of a borderless life, a dual solo exhibition from two prominent figures in the global street art movement, Milo (Italy), whose work is at left, and Seth (France) opening on Sept. 3 inside the iconic Wynwood Walls.
Inside Wynwood Walls, Millo (Italy) and Seth (France) present a rare dual solo show uniting two of the most recognizable muralists in the global street art movement in “Beyond Echoes of a Borderless Life” at the Goldman Global Arts Gallery.
The show opens Sept. 3 and runs through Nov. 16.
Millo’s dreamlike black-and-white cityscapes are animated by oversized characters navigating themes of love, vulnerability, and introspection. Seth’s vividly colored, faceless children inhabit moments of suspended reverie, evoking nostalgia and wonder.
Miami-based textile artist Regina Durante Jestrow reimagines American quilt traditions in “Everything Mixing Always” at Baker-Hall opening Sept. 6.
The exhibition includes 15 new works from each artist, a collaborative piece, and a site-specific installation. A central video pairs murals from the same cities across different years — Mumbai, Shanghai, Lwala, and Le Mans — tracing each artist’s path around the globe.
The Goldman Global Arts Gallery is located at 2516 NW 2nd Ave., Miami, within Wynwood Walls. Info: thewynwoodwalls.com.
And, on Sept. 6 running through Oct. 11, Miami-based textile artist Regina Durante Jestrow reimagines American quilt traditions in “Everything Mixing Always” at Baker-Hall. Durante weaving improvisation, geometry, and layered materiality into her work.
Using hand-dyed fabrics, thrifted garments, neoprene, and sequins, she draws from symbolic patterns like the spiderweb and log cabin to connect personal histories with shared folklore.
The pieces were developed during residencies at the Golden Foundation, KHN Center for the Arts, and Vermont Studio Center, resulting in a body of work that blurs boundaries between craft and contemporary abstraction.
Baker-Hall is located at 1294 NW 29th St., Miami.
Info at bakerhall.art.
