Sophia Lacroix: Vivid Caribbean Nostalgia
On View Thru Fri., September 29, 2023
The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood is thrilled to present the first solo exhibition for Sophia Lacroix. Born and raised in Haiti, self-taught artist Sophia Lacroix migrated to the U.S. at the age of 15. Lacroix creates hyper-realistic oil paintings and charcoal drawing scenes of everyday life and her nostalgic memories of Haiti.
Lacroix was selected for a solo exhibition from the 2022 Florida Biennial. The 11th edition, entitled 2022 Florida Biennial: Installations, Portraiture, Materiality, and Magic Realism was juried by Ylva Rouse, Senior Curator at MOCA Jacksonville. Rouse reviewed over 1,000 submitted works from 349 artists from throughout Florida. From the large number of submissions, 24 artists representing eight Florida counties were selected by Rouse. Lacroix was chosen from the 24 artists to present a new body of work at the Center.
This exhibition reveals highly detailed portraiture of people in everyday routines and activities inspired by Lacroix’s memories of Haiti. Figures are often surrounded by abundant fruits, handwoven baskets, and tropical plants. The laborious detail is mirrored in the images themselves, indicating both the beauty and conviction in the figures conveyed.
Sophia Lacroix was included in the exhibition Introspective: A Reckoning of the Soul curated by Marie Vickles at the Center (2021). Outdoor public projects include a large-scale mural commissioned by the City of Miami at the Little Haiti Cultural Center (2008) and a wrapped utility box organized by the U-Wrap NoMi Art in Public Places Initiative by the City of North Miami Community Redevelopment Agency (2021). Her work has been published in several magazines, books, and newspapers, including the book Here, There... and Beyond: The Work of 16 Haitian Artists of Florida (2009).
