The University of Miami Center for Global Black Studies and Commissioner CoFounder Dejha Carrington invite you to an intimate reception and conversation on Black rest in celebration of Strange Celestial Road—a site-specific installation by Miami-based artist Alexandra Fields O'Neale.

Through touch, light, and reflection, O’Neale shares, "My goal was to create a kinetic exhibition that transports the viewer to a place of restoration, dreaming, and reclaiming space. I wanted to explore the fluidity of Black bodies, highlighting the beauty of bodies in stillness and what emerges when we give ourselves permission to rest.”

Co-founded and shaped by cultural studies scholars Dr. Donette Francis and Dr. Jafari Allen, the CGBS is one of the few Black geographies on campus at the University of Miami. It was here, during a workshop led by Dr. Francis almost one year ago, that we asked ourselves a necessary question: How can we turn the room where hundreds of students and faculty gather every semester into a portal for rest, world-building, and creative reflection?

Dr. Mysia Anderson-White, Assistant Professor of Black Performance Theory in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego, will generously guide our discussion with O’Neale.

We look forward to welcoming you, and always, to the vision we dream together.

Parking: Pavia Garage Lot is a 5-minute walk from the Merrick building and metered parking on Stanford Drive near the Lowe Art Museum is also often available.