Art of Black Miami

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Lauryn M. Lawrence

Photography by Lauryn Lawrence

 

Lauryn M. Lawrence, Jamaican and Dominican-American, is an artist and curator whose work examines her experiences as an Afro-Latina intersectional feminist. Lawrence was born in South Florida, where she currently resides. Her multimedia works are both analytical and introspective. Lawrence emphasizes capturing representations of intersectional communities in society and paying attention to the relationship between people and their spaces. Her recent 2022 photographic series, Womxnhood, sheds light on the very differences that build the foundation for the agency and subjectivity of the artists portrayed. As part of this series, Lawrence explores intersectionality, identity, sacred spaces, and vulnerability.

Photo credits L-R: The Women I Know Series: The Fabien Family, 2020
Womxnhood Series: Countess, 2022; Caro, 2022

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Links:
www.laurynlawrence.com 
@laurynn_l

More Artwork by Lauryn M. Lawrence

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Dudley Alexis

 

An independent filmmaker and visual artist, Dudley Alexis is both a cultural anthropologist and historian who sees his world through unique multicultural eyes. His mission is to uncover hidden meaning in overlooked lives, finding true treasure in their stories.

Born in Haiti, Alexis immigrated to the United States in his teens, attending high school and college in Miami where he began studying fine art. His body of work includes a vast number of short documentaries including stories about the First Nation Micousukee Tribe of Florida, made while employed by Micousukee Magazine. He went on to write, film, direct and edit his first full length documentary, ‘Liberty in a Soup’ completed in 2016. His work on the Arthur McDuffie story began almost immediately after, but not at the exclusion of creating and exhibiting his fine art and was most recently selected and featured in the exhibition ‘Kingdom of This World, Reimagined’, curated by noted artist Edouard Duval Carrié, during Miami’s 2019 Art Week as part of the prestigious Art Basel festivities.

Alexis continues to master multiple mediums, using his curiosity and insight to raise awareness and inspire societal change on global issues.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Links:
www.dudleyalexis.com

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Ten North Group featuring Dr. Willie F. Logan

 

Dr. Willie F. Logan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ten North Group, formerly Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC). Under his leadership, the organization remains committed to its mission of transforming lives by creating housing and wealth-building opportunities for historically under-resourced communities. A key pillar in fulfilling this mission is the integration of the arts as a catalyst for social and economic impact.

Ten North Arts, a program of Ten North Group, celebrates the artistic contributions of African and African Diaspora communities through curated exhibitions and engaging arts programming. Its signature event, Art of Transformation, brings communities together, using art to bridge cultures and inspire change. Ten North Group is also an invited satellite location of the international art fair, Art Basel, and a featured event in Art of Black Miami. Through Dr. Logan’s visionary leadership, Ten North Group continues to foster understanding, appreciation, and empowerment—enriching the cultural landscape of Opa-locka and beyond through the transformative power of art.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Links:
www.tennorthgroup.com 
@tennorthgroup

More Artwork by Dr. Willie F. Logan

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Ema Ri

 

Ema Ri is a Miami-based, queer-identified, Cuban-American artist. They earned their BFA from New World School of the Arts in 2017 and have since exhibited extensively across South Florida.

Their solo exhibitions at Spinello Projects—Undercurrent (2021) and In So Deep (2023)—highlight their evolving practice. Their work has appeared in group shows at CIFO Gallery, Locust Projects, Oolite Arts, MOCA Miami, and more. They’ve been featured in major events such as UNTITLED Art Fair and El Espacio23’s You Know Who You Are. Ema Ri has completed residencies at Oolite Arts, Kinosaito Arts, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and NWSA. Their work has been recognized with numerous awards, including a CINTAS Fellowship finalist spot (2017), Wavemaker Grants (2021–22), an Ellies Creators Award (2022), and the South Florida Cultural Consortium prize for Miami-Dade.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Photo credit: Facilitated by Frederick Snitzer Gallery
Life Revered 2025 by Ema Ri

 

More artwork by Ema Ri

"Welcome Home by Ema Ri, Facilitated by Frederick Snitzer Gallery"

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Woosler Delisfort

 

Born and nurtured in Little Haiti, Florida, where he’s currently based, Woosler Delisfort is the living embodiment of creative essence rooted in the depths of heritage and community. Delisfort is a self-taught documentary photographer and filmmaker whose mission is to explore the core principles affecting the collective Human Spirit. His practice uses storytelling to weave together anecdotes and illuminate the realities of our world. Delisfort began his career documenting the emotion, humanity, and spirituality of Little Haiti’s citizens, hoping to replace negative stereotypes with images of joy, life, and creative expression. His work crosses into the borders of the Caribbean and West Africa, where he continues to examine the complexities of spirituality and communal ceremonies.

His latest work, SANCTUARY: Our Sacred Place explores the spiritual origins of Miami’s Indigenous, African, and Caribbean communities by capturing moments of divine connection in temples, churches, and mosques. This project was part of a residency presented by the HistoryMiami’s Center for Photography and was exhibited in August 2024.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Links:
Woosler Delisfort
@wooslerdelisfort
Photo credit:
Woosler Delisfort
Urban Bush Women in Performance
Woosler Delisfort on Instagram

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Stefan Smith

 

Stefan Smith is a South Florida multidisciplinary artist & muralist specializing in public art, portraiture, immersive experiences, and creative directing. His work focuses on artistically exploring the relationships between people of color, architecture, and abstraction in cultural America and the expression of black identity. Stefan seeks to weave stories reflective of our collective experience into public murals.

His creative vision merges aesthetics with purpose, driven by his belief in art’s transformative power, especially in underserved communities. With a continually evolving approach, his thought-provoking work delves into the intersection of social movements and the economic displacement of people of color in America.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Location: Barry University Department of Communication, Miami Shores, Florida
Editor: Raymel Casamayor

Links:
Stefan Smith Art
@stefansmith
Photo credit:
Stefan Smith Art
Overtown Pitch: Game Changers Mural Project
Collaboration with the Southeast Overtown/ Park West Community Redevelopment Agency in association with Miami MoCAAD
wpbt 2 on Instagram

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Reginald O'Neal

Bougainvillea, 2023 oil on canvas
by: Reginal O'Neal

Reginald O’Neal (L.E.O.) (Miami, Florida 1992) began painting in 2012, soon meeting his friend and mentor, Alejandro Dorda, who would teach him classically. His captivating oil paintings portray narrative scenes deeply influenced by his upbringing in Overtown, a historically Black neighborhood in Miami. In 2014, L.E.O. took his first trip to Europe to complete murals in Austria, Norway, and Spain, as well as exhibit in a collective show alongside his teacher in Berlin, Germany. In the years since, Reggie has focused on canvas work, residencies, and murals that embody his community surroundings, experiences and beliefs.

O'Neal's work has been acquired for the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and the Rubell Museum. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, Youth Concept Gallery, West Palm Beach, FL, and Urban Art Clash Gallery, Berlin, Germany. Spinello Projects also featured O'Neal's work in Art Basel Miami Beach 2023.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social
Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor IG - @_reginaldoneal_ 

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Bayunga Kialeuka

Mwasi Kitoko
by Byunga Kialeuka

A Congolese-born narrative painter, curator, and mural artist, Bayunga Kialeuka grew up in Miami (USA), where he worked as an artist before moving to other US cities, all the while variably travelling to DRC. His work focuses on themes of social realism, investigating society through the prismatic lenses of economic ecosystems, race and cultural identity. While in the USA, the artist started working along the lines of classicism and modernism to represent his immediate urban surroundings, focusing on the African American context.

Bayunga Kialeuka currently works on an ensemble of portraits and figurative depictions of protest, domestication, and status in Kinshasa (DRC). This expanded series further compares the hierarchical temperament of Kinois (indigenous Kinshasa residents) at home and abroad to scale concepts of escapism and utopia in the face of the stigma of lower working class communities. His drawings and paintings now start shaping a triangular representation of contemporary pan-Africanism aiming to deconstruct our accepted understanding of wider African history to make place for new perspectives into how Africans and Afro descendants are shaping a truly global society. Having painted numerous large murals as a way to engage with contemporary history and local society in the USA, Kialeuka also worked as a curator and producer of art exhibitions. His compositions are technically influenced by various painters, photographers, filmmakers, writers, musicians, and philosophers alike. Among them are Palmer Hayden, Moké, Tupac Shakur, Claude Brown, Franco Luambo, Lucian Freud, Romare Bearden and Eric Monte.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound
Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor 
IG – @bayunga.kialeuka.studio 

 

More artwork by Bayunga Kialeuka

"Panoticon"

Art of Black Miami Podcast with T. Eliott Mansa

Four Moments of the Sun II
By: T. Eliott Mansa

T. Eliott Mansa is a Miami based visual artist who specializes in creating assemblages, paintings, and sculptures. His artwork is characterized by the fusion of styles reminiscent of visionary Southern vernacular sculpture. Mansa's primary objective is to stimulate the imaginative faculties of his audience, urging them to challenge prevailing norms and discover their own socio-political agency within their communities. He draws on a diverse range of influences, including West African, Caribbean, and Southern religious and vernacular sculptural traditions. Mansa received a BFA from the University of Florida (2000) and an MFA from CUNY-Hunter College (2018). Recent exhibition venues include LnS Gallery and David Castillo Gallery in Miami, FL, African American Museum of the Arts, DeLand FL, and Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora, Miami FL. Mansa is a recipient of the 2019 and 2022 Ellies Creator Awards, Green Space Initiative Grant, and the YoungArts Microgrant.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor
T. Eliott Mansa
IG - @Teliottmansa

 

More Artwork by T. Eliott Mansa: 

"Dirge blues III" by T. Eliott Mansa

 

Art of Black Miami Podcast with Nicole Salcedo

Art in Public Places Father Marquess Barry Apt in Historic Overtown
by Nicole Salcedo

Nicole Salcedo is a Cuban-American multi-disciplinary artist based in Miami, Florida. She works in sculpture, fibers, performance and film, with a foundational practice in drawing and pattern design. Nicole’s drawings open up pathways that offer a deeper understanding of consciousness and the various connections between our bodies and the environment.

Using repetitive marks to create patterns and webs of energy within her work. Incorporating human-elemental hybrid figures that reflect various scales of ecosystems and natural phenomena that exist within and around us. Salcedo’s influences include botany, fractals, the physics of electromagnetic energy, and her animistic spiritual practice. By delving into her personal experiences and cultural heritage, Salcedo creates art that speaks to universal themes of identity, transformation, and interconnectedness. Salcedo’s work draws us closer to the mystery of existence and invites us to embrace the beauty and complexity of the world around us.

Host: Rosie Gordon-Wallace
Recording Producer: P.S. Social | Sound
Design/Editing: Raymel Casamayor

Links: nicole salcedo, oolitearts, artefuse, cubanartnews

@nikkidreaming

More of Nicole's artwork:

Pressure Release by Nicole Salcedo 2023

Superorganism by Nicole Salcedo 2023