AUGUST 18 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
PRESS RELEASE (PDF)
For his online exhibition at Light & Wire Gallery, Bhakti Baxter presents “Duvertan Deus- A portrait of another Miami”. The exhibition is a collection of images captured on the artist’s journey between his home and his studio that reveal the constellation of neighborhoods in Miami known as Liberty City, Little Haiti, and Little River. Along with the images, Baxter has interviewed two local inhabitants, Rara Kuyu and Luisa Otero, who present their unique perspectives on life and their community in audio recordings.
Baxter’s delicate subject emerges from within a landscape of communities that are rooted deep in the history of Miami, Florida. The images document local storefront businesses that use the aesthetic of the hand-painted signage and mural painting as their primary source of advertisement. Each of Baxter’s colorful, sometimes minimal documentary photographs depict the nature of three diverse neighborhoods that survive by their own community support systems. The uncommon landmarks bring light to a population that would otherwise be lost in the glimmer of the troubled city that surrounds them.
Bhakti Baxter was born in Miami, Florida in 1979 where he currently lives and works. Baxter graduated from the New World School of the Arts College in Miami with a BFA and has shown his work in several group and solo exhibitions in Miami and around the world. Solo shows include the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami in 2002, the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris, France in 2005, Bravin Lee Programs in Manhattan, New York in 2009, and Federica Schiavo Gallery, Rome in 2010. Bhakti Baxter is represented by Federica Schiavo in Rome, Italy.