No longer in the photos; still in the heart
BY ANA MENENDEZ
amenendez@herald.com
The changes roiling Miami have left behind few disinterested parties: For every dissident of the new there stands an ecstatic prophet of progress.
Xavier Cortada's vision subscribes to neither extreme, preferring to mark time's changes with the bemused detachment of a doting parent. And in a weekend marked by visual extravagance, Cortada's installation at Omni Art stood out as much for its humanity as for its simplicity.
''Absence of Place,'' which ended Sunday, explored the connection between time and memory by juxtaposing photos of the new with captions of what used to be. The photographs, displayed in plastic bags like evidence, documented both communal memories of Miami and the artist's personal recollections.
Written beneath a photograph of the Walgreens that now inhabits a former tire store: ''FIRESTONE.'' Beneath a shot of an Office Depot: ``I first drank Vietnamese coffee at this restaurant on Coral Way and 27th Avenue.''
Listen to a few readers' memories read aloud.