The City of Miami Beach is pleased to present Run Run Like The Wind, an installation by South Florida based artist Edison Peñafiel. Run Run Like The Wind will feature nine large-scale vibrantly colored banners that display lyrics from Latin American protest songs from the 1960s and 70s. The banners, previously installed outside MOCA NOMI (Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami) will be unveiled on Monday, December 4 at 1 p.m. at Henry Liebman Square, located at the corner of Pine Tree Drive and 41 Street. The installation will be on view through February 24, 2024.

Edison Peñafiel’s work examines the experiences of those on the underside of the world’s major conflicts: the migrant, the laborer, and the surveilled. Using sculpture, photography, animation, video, and space to create disturbing reflections of the realities we participate in and witness every day, his multimedia installations speak movingly on repetitive cycles of history and the production of the human catastrophe.

With Run Run Like The Wind, Peñafiel tells the story of migration, and the push and pull of leaving behind what’s known for a new and uncertain future. The banners feature different phrases that references songs, idioms, and the experience of refugees, including Victor Jara’s “El Aparecido” (“the apparition”) and “Run run se fue pa’l norte” (“Run run for the north”) by Violeta Parra. The figures on the banners are carrying luggage, or are otherwise on the move to a new destination. At their ankles are wings, invoking the ancient Greek god Hermes, who is known as a protector of travelers.

In the artist’s own words: “As a way to connect with and represent the demographics of immigrants in Miami and South Florida, the languages represented on these flags are expanded to include Haitian Creole. As these flags move through the wind, they tell the story of people’s movements from one home to a new one and explore the experiences of this motion and the hope, fear, and everything in between that accompanies it.”

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About the City of Miami Beach Art in Public Places Program
Art in Public Places is a city board responsible for the commission and purchase of artwork by contemporary artists in all media. The program allocates funds totaling 2% of hard costs for city projects and joint private/public projects. Funds from construction projects may be aggregated into the Art in Public Places Fund and allocated for artwork at public sites and for collection maintenance. The fund is administered by a City Commission-appointed citizen’s board of seven members, the Art in Public Places Committee.

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