Featuring a series of twenty-two 20-by-24-inch Polaroids shot in the 80s by renowned photographer William Wegman, Instant Miami explores the city through the eyes of an artist.
In 1984, Wegman was invited by the Lowe Art Museum to visit Miami and photograph the city with an agreement to show the resulting work at the Lowe later that year. He spent a week primarily in three locations: South Beach, Grove Isle, and Les Violins, the Cuban cabaret-style lounge on Miami Beach. Wegman arranged to bring the 20 x 24 Polaroid camera to Miami for this shoot. One of only five such experimental cameras, it used the same technology as the iconic Polaroid instamatic camera but created one-of-a-kind instant images measuring 20 x 24 inches.
This exhibition was co-curated at Lafayette by Michiko Okaya, Director of Lafayette Art Galleries, and Nestor Armando Gil, Assistant Professor of Art at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Instant Miami is generously sponsored by the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation and made possible thanks to additional support from the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade Mayor and Board of Commissioner, the State of Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the City of Coral Gables.
