The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA) is proud to announce its Fall 2022 and Miami Art Week programming: Didier William: Nou Kite Tout Sa Dèyè, Leah Gordon Kanaval, and Chire “VantaBlack” Regans: To What Lengths. The exhibitions will be celebrated during Miami Art Week with a public opening reception on Dec. 1, as well as additional programming.
Didier William: Nou Kite Tout Sa Dèyè (now on view through April 16, 2023) is the largest solo presentation 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 features over forty works spanning multiple mediums and including some of William’s 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-ft.-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.
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.
Also, on view now through April 16, 2023 is Kanaval, a survey 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.
MOCA will celebrate the exhibitions with a Miami Art Week reception on Thursday, Dec. 1 to include a VIP reception (invitation only) from 6–8 p.m., and open to the public from 8–10 p.m. The museum will also hold an Artist and Curator-led Exhibition Tour on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 11 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.
SOURCE Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, (MOCA), Nov 17, 2022
https://mocanomi.org/