Public Art: GALERIA DEL BARRIO – MIAMI
In an effort to democratize art making and give longtime residents of Miami’s Wynwood District an opportunity to respond to the arts scene flourishing in their own hood, the Miami Workers Center partnered with photographer Noelle Theard to create Galeria del Barrio, a photo exhibit that explores the boundaries of displacement and resistance.
(Installation Galeria del Barrio, Miami Wynwood District, 2008)
The project generated its content through photo workshops held for Miami en Accîon (MIA), a Wynwood residents group which has fought gentrification and encouraged community activism in the longtime Latino neighborhood. MIA then took the Galeria del Barrio exhibit to the streets by staging a public art intervention during the 2008 Miami arts season (December), when Art Basel and other satellite fairs took over the city. Residents showed that Wynwood is more than a backdrop for collectors and galleries – it is a home and place of community.
(Installation Galeria del Barrio, Miami Wynwood District, 2008)
About 200 people visited La Galeria del Barrio, made from a converted bread truck and parked in the heart of Wynwood arts district on Saturday, December 6, and 100 people attended a special event held in the home of an MIA member on December 3. The project received local media coverage in the Miami Herald and on Telemundo.
