She burst onto the Miami arts scene in 2016 with the photo project The Unvoiced Community: BBQ Men & Women of Goulds, determined to counter the relentless crime cliches around her beloved neighborhood. “There was a lot of violence,” Major says. “But I saw entrepreneurs, young kids learning to dance, families cooking outside and talking. These are things I wanted other people to see.”
Her Goulds photos earned a Knight Arts Challenge grant. She followed with projects on protests against gun violence and police brutality led by Black women, and life in Overtown and Wynwood, earning another Knight Arts Challenge and an Oolite Ellies Award.
Major turns inward for Here & Now, with Home, an intimate self-portrait of life during lockdown. She’ll add her talents for spoken word and dance, accompanied by a live hiphop/jazz band, to her photography. “It’s like my own personal speakeasy,” she says. “Talking to myself, reading from my journal, listening to music. Photos of myself in moments of joy, pain, fear, creativity.”
The piece is a new artistic opportunity for Major. “It’s a huge step for me creatively,” she says. “I wanted to challenge myself to pull everything together to understand my experience. A lot of people were faced with having to be home, to think about what really matters to them. When you’re home you’re free to do whatever you want. I want to motivate everyone in the audience to feel the same.”
Even looking inwards, Major is still looking out.
To request materials in accessible format and accommodation to attend an event, please contact Eventz Paul at 305.576.4350 or email us, at least five days in advance to initiate your request.
Made with ♥ in Miami by Fulano
We are accessible and assistive listening devices are available. To request materials in accessible format and accommodation to attend an event, please contact Eventz Paul at 305.576.4350 or email us, at least five days in advance to initiate your request.
Eventz Paul is currently the Technical Director and Productions Manager at Miami Light Project. He has been a part of this organization since 2011. He participated in Miami Light Project’s first class of the Technical Fellowship Program held at The Light Box. He joined this program hoping to improve his existing theater skills. He received training from experts in the industry that mentored and further his theater technical skills. Now, he has successfully used his professional knowledge and has had the opportunity to work with various arts organizations and venues throughout Miami including Miami Theater Center, National Young Arts Foundation, the Colony Theatre and many more. He has become an instructor and conducts audiovisual classes to incoming technical fellows.
Beth Boone has been the Artistic & Executive Director of Miami Light Project since 1998, developing critically acclaimed artistic programs that have asserted the organization as one of the leading cultural institutions in South Florida. These programs include: the establishment of Here & Now, South Florida’s most respected commission and presenting program for community-based artists; premiere presentations of internationally acclaimed; pioneering historic international cultural exchange with Cuba; and the creation of The Light Box at Goldman Warehouse, a multi-use performance and visual art space in Miami’s Wynwood Arts District. She previously served as Associate Director of Development for Florida Grand Opera, Deputy Director for the Department of Cultural Affairs at Miami Dade Community College, Wolfson Campus, co-founded an Off Broadway theater company (New York Rep), and served for six years as a Program Associate in the Arts & Culture Program of the AT&T Foundation. She received a B.A. in Fine Arts from the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and a MFA in Theater Arts from Brandeis University in Boston, MA.