Humans have more in common with animals than many would like to admit \u2014 even in how we move. A new three-day art activation in Miami highlights the connections between human migration and animal displacement through an array of murals.<\/p>\n
“Kindred Spirits,” a Soul Basel public-art activation<\/a>, draws parallels between wildlife habitat loss and displacement of Black communities such as the I-95 expansion in the 1960s that uprooted 12,000 Black residents.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of the people who are educated, more upwardly mobile and successful ended up leaving the community,\u201d said Miami native artist Nate Dee, an FIU alum who is an influential artist in South Florida\u2019s art scene.<\/p>\n Featuring roughly 8-by-8-foot outdoor murals \u2014 paintings, photography, mixed media, plants and textiles \u2014 and a sculpture garden installed along the 9th Street Pedestrian Mall in Historic Overtown, the activation seeks to elicit larger questions about how the community can \u201cadapt\u201d after losing so much of its history to crushing politics and public policy.<\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE: Amid political divisions, joy and reflection leads Prizm Art Fair at Miami Art Week<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAnd how do we take what we have, who’s here, and kind of foster it and grow it so that the community isn’t completely lost?\u201d Dee added.<\/p>\n To activate the outdoor space, curator Bart Mervil invited eight renowned artists to display their work. The project is a partnership between Mervil’s nonprofit MUSE 305 and Historic Overtown\u2019s Soul Basel. Artists include Edouard Duval Carrie, Oscar Martinez, Inna Malostovker, Tawana Dixon, Rico Melvin, Jose Wesly and Nica Sweets.<\/p>\n Dee says the exhibition urges coexistence as redevelopments impact people and endangered animals. The exhibition, he adds, centers on both the craft of the murals and the theme of environmental protection.<\/p>\n