The Gallery Club joined forces with Bakehouse Art Complex, a residency program in Miami, to present a photography exhibition in the Swenson Gallery. The Gallery Club chose works from four Bakehouse artists: Maritza Caneca, Gabriela Gamboa, Jacqueline Gomez, and Adler Guerrier. Combined, the curated works comprise the exhibition Another Beautiful Day in Miami.
The title is inspired by Miami-based poet Campbell McGrath’s poem, which not only reflects the spirit of the works and optimism of the organization as it forges its future, but also the relationship of The Gallery Club with Miami.
Maritza Caneca
Maritza Caneca was born in 1964 in Rio de Janeiro. She now lives between Miami and Rio de Janeiro. Caneca started her career as a director of photography, where she explored the dialogue between fiction and reality. Involved in the world of the cinema, Caneca captures a poetic sense in her images, which appear to be disconnected from usual chronological time. Caneca started her Swimming Pool Series, featured in the exhibition, in 2012 after a visit to the hacienda of her paternal grandparents where she spent childhood vacations. The pool was the epicenter of crowed family lunches and a space of delight and games. She has photographed full and empty pools throughout the world and in cities such as Rio, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Havana, Jerusalem, Cartagena, Miami, Lisbon, Porto, Hanoi, Bangkok, among others. Each can be read as an image of a visual diary.
Gabriela Gamboa
Gabriela Gamboa is a visual artist working with a broad range of media, including photography, video and performance, sound and printmaking. Though she was born in Pittsburgh, she spent the better part of her life in Venezuela. Her work draws strongly on current affairs and the effect of disruptive political agendas resulting in displacement and upheaval. Gamboa worked as a still photographer in the film industry for many years and considers this experience the cornerstone of her strong belief in collaborative and participatory artistic practice. In the early nineties she co-founded the experimental multimedia group Polyburo and participated in the sound collective Musikautomatika, developing performances deeply rooted in the physicality of communication and the politics of language.
Jacqueline Gomez
Jacqueline Gomez promotes the study of Florida’s ancient inhabitants and illustrate the need for more vigorous preservation. Miami is one of the earliest human habitation sites in eastern North America. Its human history stretches back over a millenium. The City was founded atop the very native settlements chosen for their geographical advantages. Pride and preservation of this incredible historical lineage has never been a political priority. Government officials have repeatedly sacrificed the cultural heritage to intensive urban development. Little professional archeological work was done in Miami-Dade County until well into the 20th century. What evidence that has not been destroyed by developers, looters, and the passage of time has shown us that conventional knowledge about the indigenous peoples of Florida has been almost willfully misrepresented, prolonging a false narrative disparaging the accomplishments of Florida’s indigenous populations. Typically, their ancient sites are treated as if they were merely a nuisance in the way of progress.
Adler Guerrier
Miami-based artist Adler Guerrier works in a variety of media, including sculpture, photography, prints, and collaged works-on-paper. His practice investigates the mutability of text and image and the variability of meaning. His work explores the rich territory between politics and poetics. Often using Miami as a physical site and an embodiment of realized (and unrealized) moments in American political and social history, Guerrier examines, repurposes, and sometimes fictionalizes the city through his work. His oeuvre is expansive in its engagement with the urban environment, art history, and materials.