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We had already mentioned in pre-Miami Art Week times that in the historic and original area of Overtown (original meant as a sense of origin, roots) in the days of Miami Art Week Afro-future would be inaugurated with a big party open to everyone. And us people of Miami Niche have been part of both the party and the ribbon cutting event that was a big step for Overtown, one of the most precious neighborhoods in urban core of Miami because, it is from Overtown that Miami originates and it is unfortunately always Overtown the most mistreated area in the city.
Afro-future has not randomly chosen the days for the inauguration of this ambitious project that aims to re-evaluate a marginal area in a zone of cultural interest that through art, can redesign the future of those people who enter that space and present new ways in which it can be used and shared.
The official ceremony was held during the art week par excellence in Miami, because Art Basel and all its entourage, attract people from all over the world who come here to see the art, which by its nature represents the social mirror of reality. When people arrive, they hardly move from Miami Beach, Wynwood or the Design District, missing a very important part of the city: the other side, the real part, the dark one that today, thanks to the support of the non-profit organization Urban Philanthropies, is opening up to the world with a new space of almost 5,000 square meters (53,000 square foot) in the historic district called The Urban and it does so through art because as stated by Gia Hamilton, Afro-future’s founder “We are all bound by the power of art, and what we offer at The Urban is a fundamental experience connected to a space that has been important and will still be for the Overtown community”.
Overtown is no stranger to the art world, one of the greatest artists of our time lived here: Purvis Young, who in 1971 decided to live in the alley called Goodbread Alley, named after the Jamaican bakeries that occupied the street . Here, with pieces of boards gathered in the street and nailed to the wall, he began to paint and attract the attention of the media with his “muralism”, a sort of colorful art brut. The Rubell family, which in 1999 purchased 3000 works by Purvis Young, donating 108 to Morehouse College in 2008, at the Miami Art Week opened its collection to show it to the public. And it is fantastic to stop in front of the original works and at the same time imagine yourself in Overtown in the presence of Purvis Young who nails wooden planks painted in his alley.
Gia Hamilton, the founder, is originally from New Orleans, a city in which she lived and that she considers, just as well as Miami, one of the few true cultural centers of America, where everything started with the African diaspora. An anthropologist with numerous projects behind her, she founded: an independent school centered on Africa, the Little Maroon in 2006; a creative incubation space called Gris Gris Lab in 2009; a program of residency for artists the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans first as a consultant from 2011 to 2013, and then as director, 2013-2018.
Currently, with the belief that imagination and creativity are fundamental gradients to create a fairer and socially just society, she has completed the Afro-future project in collaboration with the Urban Philanthropies, which saw the restoration of Overtown’s economic and cultural vitality its mission. In designing her activities Gia Hamilton uses the Social Magic ™ methodology, that is to say, through social initiatives and innovation studies the earth, work, creativity and cultural production while analyzing spatial culture and social connectivity within institutions and the community. With this methodology she developed several projects: from the simplest to the most structured and well-funded philanthropic projects. For Gia, the use of space and programming by people and the creation of inter-sectorial connection spaces is fundamental.
Thus, with these assumptions, Afro-future gave its best from 6 to 9 with the presentation of the characters who gave life to this project that honors the past by inspiring the future, in the presence of Gia Hamilton, the mayor of the city of Miami Francis X.Suarez, president of Urban Philanthropies, Philip Bacon, vice chairman Don D. Patterson and chairman Craig Emmanuel. In addition to their many guests and 20 artists and musicians who created a magical and futuristic environment of innovation, they realized on-site artistic works, installations and performances. Among the artists there were: Denisio Truitt, Felice Gee, Courtney Ceaux Buckley, TJDedeaux Norris, Kristina Key Robinson, Sokari Ekine (one of the first African women who created a blog: Black Looks) Brandan Bmike Odums, Soraya Jean Louis, Phelgm, Dyna Edyne, Charm Taylor, Elliot Jerome Brown Jr, Sultana, Epaul Julien , Jessica Strahan, Nate Dee, Vitus Shell, King Britt, Rich Medina, Fùnké. During the three days of the festival interactive art welcomed visiting families, while nightlife lovers were welcomed with unique cocktails musical performances and VIP parties hosted by Papa Keith, Africoco, Social X Change Miami, King Britt, Rich Medina and more.
At this point we extend our toll radius and take a ride to Afrofuture, in the beautiful district of Overtown.
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