#opalockaart

The Hurt Building in 1930. HistoryMiami Museum, Claude Matlack Collection and Curbed.com

Founded in 1926, by aviation pioneer and entrepreneur, Glenn Curtiss, Opa-locka was developed in the Moorish Revival style. Curtiss and architect, Bernhardt Muller, built 105 buildings with an array of domes, minarets and outside staircases. Before the Great Miami Hurricane destroyed most of the buildings in 1926, Curtiss had built a self-contained city with a hotel, zoo park, golf course, archery club, swimming pool, airport, and train station. The 20 surviving Moorish Revival buildings comprise the Opa-locka Thematic Resource Area, which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Aerial view of present-day city hall, courtesy of Germane Barnes and Curbed.com.

The devastation left by the hurricane and the 1920’s Florida real estate bubble, spelled the beginning of The Great Depression for the city of Miami, including Opa-locka – three years earlier than the rest of the country. The U.S. Navy opened a base at the Opa-locka Airport shortly after the hurricane, allowing it to thrive until the base closed in the 1950s.

Automobile and Curtiss aerocar trailer parked in front of Opa-locka City Hall. Photo courtesy of History Miami Archives.

Opa-locka continued to struggle, and in the 1980’s, the city, particularly an area called the Triangle, became notorious for drug trafficking and violent crime in South Florida, with its proximity to major highways and thoroughfares. In response, the city placed eight metal barriers on the intersections of several streets, enclosing the Triangle, allowing police to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic in and out of the neighborhood with access from one major street.

Moorish-style house (Opa-locka, Fla.), circa September 8, 1930. Photo courtesy of History Miami Archives.

Although this helped to mitigate crime, a once-bustling neighborhood turned into one known for vagrancy, abandonment, homelessness or transiency, and a high foreclosure rate. As the city residents flee, the barricades remained, perpetuating the negative psychological and visual impact of the area’s separation from the rest of the community.

One local organization stepped up. In 1980, Opa-locka Community Development Corporation (OLCDC) was established to address the effects of poverty and unemployment, through community organizing. OLCDC soon expanded to provide community services and develop housing. Since 1980, OLCDC has developed and sold 145 single-family homes to low-to-moderate-income first-time homebuyers and, through partnerships with private developers, has built over 2,500 units of rental housing.

Computer rendering of Gale Fulton Ross sculpture, one of the proposed public art projects in Opa-locka as outlined in the Public Art Plan by R+R Studios. Photo courtesy of Fulton Ross Group.

In 2010, OLCDC received a $20 million multi-year award from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program to buy, construct and repair foreclosed and vacant properties throughout North Miami-Dade. OLCDC also began working with the city to come up with a plan to remove the barricades and revitalize the neighborhood.

The following year, OLCDC’s project, Community Gateways, was awarded a $250,000 Our Town National Endowment for the Arts grant to help transform the Triangle (now Magnolia North) through art and culture into a desirable place to live, work and play. This grant combined with the HUD funds, helped kick start the city’s rebirth and revitalization, anchored by its unique architecture and accessible location.

Present-day Opa-locka

Historic Hurt Building, home of the present-day OLCDC offices on Alibaba Ave. Photo courtesy of Geoview.info.

OLCDC has led to the rebuilding and renewal in Opa-locka by spearheading projects that brought parks, open space and community gardens to the municipality. According to the Public Art Master Plan, large- and small-scale public art pieces integrated with landscape and architecture will soon be common sights in Opa-locka.

By providing unique arts-based social and economic opportunities for residents, OLCDC is committed to lasting change that is not limited to the external aesthetics, as acknowledged by Arts & Creative Industry Manager, Aileen Alon.

OLCDC realizes that Opa-locka is a food desert and we aim to increase community access to and knowledge of fresh and affordable healthy eating options. We have several health initiatives aimed at increasing the health and wellbeing of residents, including an annual Health Matters Fair that includes a fresh produce giveaway, grocery store tours where participants learn how to read nutrition labels and buy/cook healthy foods on a budget, and a Health Partnership that works to identify and address health-related concerns of the community through stakeholder meetings, research, and surveys.

Thrive Commercial Kitchen. Courtesy of OLCDC.

Throughout the years, OLCDC has realized the importance of involving the community in planned developments and neighborhood projects. According to Alon, the grassy lot behind the Arts & Recreation Center (ARC) building is reserved for a community garden/urban farm where residents can have a say over the changes in their neighborhood.

What is ultimately grown in the garden is dependent on community input, as well as research into produce that grows well in South Florida and items that could enhance their diet with additional nutrients and/or flavors that they may not be aware of. We are also working with partners to set up a shipping container produce stand that sources local produce. We are also raising money for a commercial kitchen, one of our long-term projects, which would serve as an incubator for culinary entrepreneurs and hopefully provide additional healthy food options for resident.

Future location of community garden which will be designed by artist-in-residence, Germane Barnes.

In the horizon As rents in Miami and nearby areas increase, artists and young people, unable to afford high rents with their low wages, are looking for alternatives and some of them are flocking to Opa-Locka.

One transplant is architect, German Barnes. Chicago-native Barnes is OLCDC’s project manager and artist-in-resident. In collaboration with artists/designers/architects Jennifer Bonner and Christian Stayner, Barnes has worked in transforming the Magnolia North neighborhood into a vibrant collection of small businesses and civic spaces, through the Made in Opa-locka Project.

Roberto Behar & Rosario Marquardt are also involved in using art to transform the community. Known for devising the hugely successful public art master plan for Miami’s ultra-posh Design District, the husband-and-wife team are the visionaries behind the Public Art Master Plan. They are hopeful that they will get to the same level of achievement in Opa-locka but on a residential scale.

Facade of Opa-locka Community Development Corporation’s (OLCDC) Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC). Mural by Olalekan Jeyifous and street art conceived by urban landscaper, Walter Hood. Photo by @venusinorbit​.

In 2015, architect, urban planner & public artist, Walter Hood transformed Opa-locka’s Ali Baba Avenue into a huge public art canvas. In addition, Hood, with the support of the OLCDC, wants to bring sustainable infrastructure to the street and introduce built-in seats to the sidewalks and utilize bio-swales, an alternative to storm sewers with gently sloped sides that can carry rainfall into areas filled with plants and trees. He says that green infrastructure standards are already implemented in South Florida, but that none is practiced in Opa-locka. The potential for green development is huge.

Mural of activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafza by VA Collective at the Magnolia North Park, one of OLCDC’s community projects. Photo by @venusinorbit.

Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based artist, Olalekan Jeyifous has also placed his stamp on Opa-locka, with his mural designed for OLCDC's ARC building. Inspired by the city’s Moorish architectural heritage, his intent was to create a bold and colorful design that acknowledges the programmatic function of the space.

Recently, the ARC hosted the acclaimed Through the Eyes of Others, an exhibit that explores the hard truths about racial disparity and economic inequality in the United States. During OLCDC’s Art of Transformation reception for Art Basel 2015, art fans flocked to Opa-locka to view works by artists Hank Willis Thomas, Dread Scott, Ebony G. Patterson, and Bernard Williams.

Invisible Presence: Bling Memories, 2014, Art of Transformation. Wood, fabric and embellishments. Artist: Ebony G. Patterson. This piece explores cultural rituals, particularly dancehall, in Jamaica. The artist adopts a funerary practice used by working class communities to address the social taboos and violence towards black masculine identity. Within the dancehall context, the poor are glorified and celebrated only at their funeral. Photo by @venusinorbit.

According to Alon, OLCDC support local cultural entities, such as the Bahamas Junkanoo Revue of Miami, which dazzled reception attendees, through different events in order to nurture and help build a unique cultural and creative community in Opa-locka and north Miami-Dade County. Having The ARC as a new community and cultural venue has increased their ability to provide artist support by having a space to host performances, events, gatherings, and more.

Bahamas Junkanoo Revue of Miami performing during the Art of Transformation Art Basel reception, 2015. Photo by @venusinorbit.

Through the Eyes of Others group show at the ARC.  Photo by @venusinorbit. 

Foreground: Standing Chart #1, 2005-15. Painted wood. The letters and words on different axes provide a pretext for describing a disjointed and fragmentary history of the black experience that is both contentious and yet becoming. Background: Buffalo Chart, 2005-15. Painted wood and found objects. This piece symbolically depicts a chronicle of American history pointing both to the trauma and survival of people of color in America. Artist: Bernard Williams. 

Through the Eyes of Others explores the hard truths about racial disparity and economic inequality in the United States. Curated by Tumelo Mosaka, the show runs at Arts and Recreation Center (The ARC) of the Opa-Locka Community Development Center, 675 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-Locka, FL 33054, until Friday, December 11th 2015.

Text by curator, Tumelo Mosaka. Photos by @venusinorbit. 2015.

Barcode, 2014. Quilt made out of decommissioned prison uniforms. Artist: Hank Willis Thomas. This piece underscores the depersonalization of identity within the prison industrial complex. The uniform is often perceived as stigmatizing and is a symbol of loss of individuality. Inmates are tracked and controlled - representing the modern justification for the massive prison bureaucracy.

Racial disparity and economic inequality have persisted because efforts to remedy the impact of past discriminatory laws and practices have not yet been adequately addressed. We have come a long way since slavery and the fight for Civil Rights. However, racism and its social ramifications remain pressing issues today.

Lockdown, 2001. C-Prints and audio. Artist: Dread Scott. Using portraits and interviews of inmates, the piece contemplates the impact of mass incarceration and how the criminal justice system strips away the humanity of those imprisoned. It seeks to dispel the negative stigma associated with being a felon and captures moments of personal reflection and desire transcending the condition of incarceration.

Recent attention to fatal shootings and the use of excessive force by police has raised public concern about bias in policing methods and the blatant disregard of black lives. The tragic deaths of innocent victims by police in Baltimore, Ferguson, Staten Island, and New York, among other cities, has exposed racist attitudes by law enforcement agents. 

I am not a Man, 2009. Performance stills. Artist: Dread Scott. Staged on the streets of Harlem, these photos recall the iconic photo documenting the 1968 Memphis Sanitation workers strike. This piece is aimed at addressing the continued racism that is foundational to America’s history.

But at a broader level, these deaths point to larger structural problems regarding the failure of public policies to protect and provide equal access to employment, housing, and education to black people, particularly black men. Instead, millions remain incarcerated or die because of inequalities created by previous laws and discriminatory practices.

Invisible Presence: Bling Memories, 2014. Wood, fabric and embellishments. Artist: Ebony G. Patterson. This piece explores cultural rituals, particularly dancehall, in Jamaica. The artist adopts a funerary practice used by working class communities to address the social taboos and violence towards black masculine identity. Within the dancehall context, the poor are glorified and celebrated only at their funeral.

In contemporary America, the black subject is paradoxically invisible and hypervisible. Likewise, while the video documentation of these acts of police violence has brought injustice to light, these images, and those who record them, are also witnesses to what it means to be seen “as black.”

Zero Hour, 2012. Digital c-print and plexi with Lumisty film. Artists: Hank Willis Thomas. The piece addresses how racial identity is informed by attitudes and assumptions from popular culture. These images are coated with film to create a hologram effect, and captures a white-painted man in profile turning black over the course of six images to suggest a spectrum of positions associated with racial identification. The optical effect serves as a metaphor for the increasing blurry lines of racial categorization.

Through the Eyes of Others provides a critical platform for re-imagining black identity beyond racial difference. It approaches race and cultural memory as complex fields of knowledge that influence how people think, behave, identify and perceive. Seeing through the eyes of others defamiliarizes the fictions and realities of black America by binding them close and setting them at a distance. On view until Friday, December 11, 2015.

Detail of Buffalo Chart, by Bernard Wiliiams.