The 2020 cohort of Locust Art Builders met on Zoom over four weeks in July.
Lorie Mertes, Executive Director
As an incubator of new art and ideas, Locust Projects is dedicated to creating opportunities for visual artists and advocating for their careers and sustaining that mission is as important as ever as artists continue to be impacted by the ongoing crisis. After we closed our doors on March 14 due to COVID-19 and de-installed the current shows two weeks early, we immediately focused on compiling resources for artists who would clearly be among the first to be impacted by loss of work, as well as scrambling (aka word of the moment, “pivoting”) all we could programmatically to an online platform.
Locust Projects, Miami's longest-running alternative art space.
With support from the Warhol Foundation we were able to provide emergency relief grants of $1,500 each to forty Miami-based artists and awarded fourteen WaveMaker grants up to $6,000 each, for a total of $120,000 in support to local artists. Through LegalARTLink’s pro bono legal program, we’ve served four times the usual number of local artists with legal services and online webinars as they navigate everything from cancelled contracts and commissions to evictions.
Following local and federal safety guidelines, we were thrilled to reopen in July with two previously delayed projects by Miami-based artists Christina Pettersson and Summer Jade Leavitt. Nearly every appointment was booked for the six weeks they were on view! It was great to see old and new friends who expressed how grateful they were to have a place to experience art in person again.
Christina Pettersson, In the Pines installation. Photo by Zachary Balber.
Christina Pettersson’s In the Pines transformed Locust Projects main galleries into a cemetery paying homage to South Florida’s original pine woods and historical figures and celebrating the region’s forgotten history.
The Language is Leaving Me by Summer Jade Leavitt included a pink dentist’s chair, a glowing stage—an homage to Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ 1991's Untitled (Go-Go Dancing Platform) — and recontextualized text and images from karaoke videos as a metaphor for finding one’s voice and disowning patriarchal language.
Summer Jade Leavitt, The Language is Leaving Me installation. Photo by Zachary Balber.
In July we also kicked off our 10th anniversary year of Locust Art Builders (LAB), our four-week teen summer art intensive for the next generation of artists, which culminated with an 80-foot long public art project along storefront windows on the highly visible North Miami Avenue.
Over the next month we will be closed again as we install two ambitious projects, both focused on migration, by Miami-based artist Juana Valdes and Philadelphia-based artist Raúl Romero. We’ll open by appointment September 12 and remote visitors will be able to check out the shows from home through video interviews and virtual tours with the artists available on our website – they are not to be missed!
While safety remains our highest priority, Locust Projects continues to look ahead as we navigate how we respond to the ongoing crisis and challenges our society is facing while maintaining our commitment to serving as advocates for art and artists, which we believe are essential, now more than ever.
Juana Valdes
Juana Valdes at Fountainhead Studios, photo by Pedro Wazzan.
PHILLIPS: Tell us what you are working for Locust, has the project changed from your original proposed project due to our current circumstances?
JUANA VALDES: For Locust Projects, I am presenting a new immersive installation titled Rest Ashore that expands my practice into narrative video and brings to the forefront the impact of immigrating by sea. Migration is a subject which I address in past artworks, but for this project, it will be on a larger scale as a full-room installation that incorporates multi-channel videos. The ideas for the work started three years ago as the 40th anniversary of the Mariel Boatlift was approaching, and the international refugee crisis was unfolding in Europe. The video presents the perspective of a refugee on a boat, and the danger involved in these travels, especially for women and young children. The project has not changed from its original proposal, at least not "yet," partly because the work addresses transnational crossing. At its core, it addresses issues that spread the virus from an epidemic to a pandemic.
Juana Valdes, Rest Ashore.
P: Is there a work of Art, a film, a book, a song, that for you, captures this moment in time? What inspires and drives you most at the moment?
JV: More than any artwork, I am moved by the call for social justice taking place on our streets throughout the world. It is bringing forth an age of awareness and accountability that will have lasting change in our society. The BLM movement inspires and drives me to make art that fulfills and meets the calling. I am currently reading Christina Sharpe, In the Wake, On Blackness and Being.
Juana Valdes, Rest Ashore.
P: Looking ahead, how do you feel your work will change due to this challenging period? Will you change your use of materials, practice or approach in any way? Has it inspired a new work, project or direction?
JV: The process of making in my work is driven by concepts rather than specific materials or practices. What impacts and influences the work is how it's presented. Now more than ever, due to the quarantine, [it is important to] make work accessible to audiences [for whom], for whatever reason, it is not feasible for them to attend the show in person. Moving away from the geographical limitation of site or locale. I'm investigating options that exist which could expand the visibility of the work from its conception. For me, it has brought about significant moments of contemplation and reflection that require I spend more time in the thought process before taking any action.
Raúl Romero
Raúl Romero in his Philadelphia studio. Courtesy the artist.
P: Tell us what you are working for Locust, has the project changed from your original proposed project due to our current circumstances?
RAÚL ROMERO: I’m working on retrofitting a cargo trike into a sound transmission mobile station that will play my recordings of the coquí frog from Puerto Rico. The project has changed by inviting other artists and performers to take the mobile sound station out into the community rather than just having me ride it around. In some ways, it was an organic evolution through discussion with Lorie at Locust when thinking about how to engage in dialogue with people in regards to how they connect to the sounds of the coquí. This change also allows me to stay in Philadelphia for the first half of the show to comply with some of the travel restrictions and responsibilities to my community in Philadelphia surrounding COVID. Considering how we engage and interact with art I think bringing it outside and inviting others to collaborate with the mobile sound station is a great way to overcome some of the limitations that living with COVID 19 has created for us.
Raúl Romero, cargo-bike/sound transmission mobile station in process. Courtesy the artist.
P: Is there a work of Art, a film, a book, a song, that for you, captures this moment in time? What inspires and drives you most at the moment?
RR: I was in Puerto Rico in March right before the COVID 19 closures began. Bad Bunny’s album YHLQMDLG had recently been released and was everywhere. It’s been on repeat for the past three months getting me up and dancing in the studio. During this time my drive comes from being able to make the most out of “working from home” which happens to be the studio for me. I’m lucky to have a private studio I can still work in during COVID so taking advantage of that time while still meeting my responsibilities inspires me to look back and be grateful for my health and being able to get work done.
Raúl Romero, visual sound recording of coquí in el helelcho gigante, 2020.
P: Looking ahead, how do you feel your work will change due to this challenging period? Will you change your use of materials, practice or approach in any way? Has it inspired a new work, project or direction?
RR: This challenging period inspires me to think about how people communicate with each other, how we carry personal experiences with us, and how that informs the mindset we choose to live in. I think making art to inspire people to think about different perspectives or learn about a new culture and experiences pushes me to create objects and moments for others to self reflect in.
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