Reconstructing Identity: An Exploration of Identity and Diaspora Through Artistic Practice 

The Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora (MoCAAD) is pleased to announce Reconstructing Identity: An Exploration of Identity and Diaspora Through Artistic Practice, a pop-up exhibition of painting, sculpture, photography and drawings on view at the Historic Ward Rooming House in Overtown. 

Reconstructing Identity: An Exploration of Identity and Diaspora Through Artistic Practice brings together multidisciplinary contemporary artists of American, Haitian, Cuban, Dominican and Jamaican descent exploring issues around identity and sense of place.

This exhibition encompasses the work of artists connected by a shared interest in the interrogation of identity when sense of place is ever changing. Utilizing varying materials and techniques intermingled in the space, the work tells multiple stories. Some may observe cultural differences in the experiences of those within the black & brown diasporas. Others may explore aesthetic, social, cultural, and political subjects that examine where identity and sense of place intervolve, thus allowing for a better understanding of the communities we inhabit.

Championing the artists’ diverse experiences, the range of media on display provides a glimpse into the complicated processes of navigating and understanding diasporic identities. Experiences of inclusion and exclusion, hyper-visibility and invisibility, injustice and resilience, allow the artists to create and express new narratives.

As part of the growing conversation around art from the continent of Africa and its diaspora, Reconstructing Identity examines distinctive cultural identities, significant similarities and important differences that make up varying definitions of Blackness. Influenced heavily by environment, community and history, identity is explored, deconstructed and reconstructed. 

Curated by: Donnamarie Baptiste

This exhibition runs June 6th to June 27th and  is made possible by the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora with the support of the Miami–Dade Department of Cultural Affairs the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami–Dade County Board of County Commissioners.