In this kinetic installation, multidisciplinary artist Yanira Collado fuses geometry and symbols from the African Diaspora to create joy and honor while also engaging with themes of spirituality and history. Drawing inspiration from the deity Ọya, who represents the winds in Yoruba spiritual beliefs, For those who transcend in the wind reflects on the connection to ancestral heritage.

In the work, the artist uses color as a reference to the Gullah people, descendants of enslaved Africans in the American South, and their tradition of painting porch ceilings haint blue – a blue-green color resembling water, to ward off spirits. She also uses the color in acknowledgement of the blue pinwheel that serves as a symbol for child abuse awareness. The pinwheels in the installation are adorned with complex geometric patterns that reference Shoowa embroidery, a traditional textile art form originating from the Kuba Kingdom in Central Africa. The pinwheels also pay homage to the symbols used in quilting patterns throughout the American South, historically considered visual codes for the Underground Railroad.  The installation is transformative – blurring the past with the present, symbolizing movement across space through the history of subjugation to freedom.

About the artist

Miami-based artist Yanira Collado explores the relationship between objects and personal and shared history. In her work, she integrates language and identity by incorporating reclaimed books and textiles alongside various materials, each with its own narrative, evoking personal and collective memories. Collado studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and completed artist residencies at Artpace in San Antonio, TX (2022), Oolite Arts in South Beach, FL (2019-2022), and the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans (2020, 2022). Notable grants include a Foundation for Contemporary Arts emergency grant (2022), a South Florida Consortium Fellowship (2021), an Ellies Creator Grant (2019), and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant (2018). Her work has been showcased at Museo del Barrio in New York (2021), Project Row Houses in Houston, TX (2019), and the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami, FL (2018), with solo exhibitions at Emerson Dorsch Gallery in Miami, FL (2021), Dimensions Variable in Miami, FL (2020), and MDC Museum of Art + Design in Miami, FL (2016), among others.

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