"A Call to the Ancestors" in Little Haiti celebrates those who came before us
LITTLE HAITI -- In the heart of Little Haiti is an exhibit honoring the cultural rituals surrounding life and death.
"A Call to the Ancestors" celebrates the resilience and unity that exists between several diverse cultures, while also acknowledging the painful past symbolized by a famous cemetery in Miami.
The curation of art at the Little Haiti cultural complex, highlights Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, a mostly forgotten piece of land that is home to the souls of thousands of Black people who were critical to the Miami we know today.
"A Call to the Ancestors," is how I find my strength when things are tough," said curator Carl Philippe Juste.
The installation goes beyond just the Black experience though, it pays homage to ancestors of Indigenous, Afro, and Latin cultures. Most of which is the demographic makeup of South Florida.
"We all have lost people that we love, and we all pray to them and ask them for courage, so having that as a foundation everyone should be able to see themselves," said Juste.
As you walk through the exhibit, you'll notice that on the gray walls are the stories and images of Lincoln Memorial Park and on the purple walls are the elements of transition.
The parlor is a significant part of the exhibit, it's where people are encouraged to leave messages for their ancestors.
This work was funded by Florida International University's Mellon Foundation who helped bring Juste's vision to life.
"I wanted to integrate both the past and the present, and the future all in one space," he said.
"A Call to the Ancestors" will be at the Little Haiti Cultural Complex until March and Juste hopes people come, experience, and feel this.
