(…) “I think it’s really important for artists to be involved in this conversation for many reasons,” Alexandra Perisic, a member of the Miami Committee on State Violence, which organized the vigil, wrote to Hyperallergic over email earlier in the day. “First of all, Reefa was an artist and we’re asking for the art community to stand up for him. But also, Art Basel is one of the biggest art festivals in the US and yet there has been a complete disconnect with what’s happening in the country. We’ve wanted to open up a space where artists can claim art as political.”
Protesters blocking cars on Interstate 195 in Miami (all photos by the author for Hyperallergic)
Art Basel was, perhaps inevitably, on many people’s minds as the crowd gathered at the corner of NW 36th St and NW 1st Ave in the late afternoon. “Everybody comes to town thinking it’s business as usual, and it’s not business as usual. People are getting killed in Miami, and no one thinks it’s happening here. Everything’s getting covered under the rug,” said Ruth Jean Noel, an organizer of the event who works with the grassroots Power U Center for Social Change. (…)
more: Hyperallergic