Afro-Cuban Orisha Arts in Miami

Historical Museum of Southern Florida

At the Crossroads
Afro-Cuban Orisha Arts in Miami

AFRO-CUBAN ORISHA ARTS IN MIAMI

Over the past forty years, Miami, at the crossroads of the Americas, has emerged as one of the major centers of the Afro-Cuban Orisha religion and its array of traditional arts. A religious community of over 100,000 practitioners is served by numerous specialists who produce beadwork, garments, cloth panels, metalwork, woodcarvings, altars, musical instruments, paintings, and other art forms. These works of art are expressions of spiritual devotion, inspired by the many orishas (deities) of the religion’s pantheon, such as Elegbá, Ogún, Shangó, Obatalá, Yemojá, and Oshún. Though Orisha artists are highly respected within the religious community, their work is not well known or understood by the wider public. This exhibition explores their creativity in the context of the aesthetics and symbolism of the centuries-old Orisha tradition. Access to a wealth of materials in Miami has enabled these artists to pursue strikingly original aesthetic visions, while still following traditional patterns and the fundamental precepts of the orishas.
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