Melissa Hunter Davis is a creative entrepreneur and the master mind behind Sugarcane . Sugarcane Magazine is an online journal about art of Africa and the African Diaspora. She has an affinity for African arts, African culture, African performers and African literature. Follow her at @sugarcanemag
Art by Bayunga Kialeuka
Art by Bayunga Kialeuka
Bayunga Kialeuka, Painter, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Miami, Florida
![If you or your folks will be in Miami for Memorial Day, please support this phenomenal project. Via @johannerahaman
BlackFlorida: waterRIGHTS, will be exhibited on a floating 40’ screen, close to the shore on South Beach, from from 5-7 PM on Saturday May 25th. .
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I attempted to do it last Urban Beach Weekend and an unexpected storm blew plans away. Then @oolitearts Oolite Arts presented the project an Ellies Award 💕💕💕 so here I am, back at it again in 2019 thanks to funding from Oolite Arts and the @knightfdn Knight Foundation. .
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Here’s an excerpt from a feature last May in the Miami New Times, by Taylor Estape: “Rahaman started the project in 2014, around the same time she began shooting photos in South Beach during Urban Beach Week. Though crowds of out-of-town revelers aren't as open to Rahaman's more narrative approach to the Black Florida Project, the event nevertheless embodied what first drew her to capturing the spirit of the African diaspora in the United States. "It feels like home," Rahaman reflects. "It feels like being in Trinidad getting ready for carnival, getting to the parade route. Even though there’s no parade, there’s this sense of merriment, of excitement, of family. It feels like everyone knows each other even though they don’t. There’s this sense of community." Despite this vibe, politicians and land owners in South Beach have been trying to shut Urban Beach Week down for years. This year [2018], the City of Miami Beach has made a concerted effort to draw visitors indoors via cultural events. Its more insidious tactics include paring down traffic on the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle Causeways to one lane in order to scan the license plates of every vehicle entering the city. The narratives of increased crime and debauchery — conspicuously absent for similar, nonblack events such as Pride Week — are exactly what Rahaman's work attempts to combat. So it seemed only natural to bring the Black Florida Project to Urban Beach Week in an exhibition titled “Water Rights””.
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#waterrights #theellies #fromthesouthtothesouthernmost #johannerahaman #blackflorida #oolitearts #knightarts #urbanbeachweek #blacklove #blackjoy #resistance](http://scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com/vp/e1f7a8659d1030d0175ae149fa0428d0/5D6C4718/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/c219.0.1001.1001/s640x640/58410214_315377732723152_2011437072624998017_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-1.cdninstagram.com "If you or your folks will be in Miami for Memorial Day, please support this phenomenal project. Via @johannerahaman
BlackFlorida: waterRIGHTS, will be exhibited on a floating 40’ screen, close to the shore on South Beach, from from 5-7 PM on Saturday May 25th. .
.
I attempted to do it last Urban Beach Weekend and an unexpected storm blew plans away. Then @oolitearts Oolite Arts presented the project an Ellies Award 💕💕💕 so here I am, back at it again in 2019 thanks to funding from Oolite Arts and the @knightfdn Knight Foundation. .
.
Here’s an excerpt from a feature last May in the Miami New Times, by Taylor Estape: “Rahaman started the project in 2014, around the same time she began shooting photos in South Beach during Urban Beach Week. Though crowds of out-of-town revelers aren't as open to Rahaman's more narrative approach to the Black Florida Project, the event nevertheless embodied what first drew her to capturing the spirit of the African diaspora in the United States. \"It feels like home,\" Rahaman reflects. \"It feels like being in Trinidad getting ready for carnival, getting to the parade route. Even though there’s no parade, there’s this sense of merriment, of excitement, of family. It feels like everyone knows each other even though they don’t. There’s this sense of community.\" Despite this vibe, politicians and land owners in South Beach have been trying to shut Urban Beach Week down for years. This year [2018], the City of Miami Beach has made a concerted effort to draw visitors indoors via cultural events. Its more insidious tactics include paring down traffic on the MacArthur and Julia Tuttle Causeways to one lane in order to scan the license plates of every vehicle entering the city. The narratives of increased crime and debauchery — conspicuously absent for similar, nonblack events such as Pride Week — are exactly what Rahaman's work attempts to combat. So it seemed only natural to bring the Black Florida Project to Urban Beach Week in an exhibition titled “Water Rights””.
.
.
#waterrights #theellies #fromthesouthtothesouthernmost #johannerahaman #blackflorida #oolitearts #knightarts #urbanbeachweek #blacklove #blackjoy #resistance")