Collaborator Octavia Yearwood on TNT

We’re thrilled to share that The New Tropic has featured Commissioner collaborator Octavia Yearwood. From The New Tropic newsletter: Octavia brought together voices of artists, curators and collectors—Rosie Gordon-Wallace, Kathryn Mikesell, Jumaane N’namdi, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Anthony Spinello and Patty Suau—to share the value of art and collecting with an audio collage. Guests brought objects that “symbolize what it means to give” and then contributed them to a table installation to honor shared memory, collective experiences and community giving.

An intro to the article:

Last month, our partners at Commissioner co-hosted Libations, a multi-disciplinary, interactive art experience created by local artist and author Octavia Yearwood. Part performative, part storytelling, Libations aimed to explore why art collecting matters to artists, to Miami, and to the world as an experiential feast to kickstart Art Week.

Octavia wove together voices of local artists and collectors sharing the value of art and collecting in their experiences and in the city into an audio collage. Guests brought objects that “symbolize what it means to give” and then contributed them to a table set to honor collective experiences and community giving.

The memento-laden table featured centerpieces from Miami sculptor Morel Doucet— ceramic tea pots and cups, encrusted with sea life and resembling sunken treasures that recall our natural history and the existential threats of climate change for our city. “For me, Morel’s work has the ancestors within it. I always feel closer to my ancestors when I view his work,” Octavia said in an email interview. “Morel’s work also captures what I love and am also sometimes concerned about in regards to our world.”

See more of the Q&A here.

Why Octavia Yearwood thinks art is at the center of Miami’s ‘heartbeat’