Antonia Wright + Ruben Millares' Statement: 

At this historic moment where our country has erupted protesting racial injustice, the image of the barricade has become ubiquitous on our streets. Previously an innocuous symbol demarcating “no access,” barricades were mainly associated with providing safety and crowd control at celebratory events like parades, or creating a queue for sporting and music events. In the current political environment in the U.S. where the right to a peaceful protest is being threatened, we believe a metal barrier conjures anxiety and is used as architecture to separate and control bodies in public space. 

Using barricades as a symbol of our global climate of resistance, we offer our new work, a site-specific sculptural light installation entitled Yes/No. By lighting the barricades being used by the Illuminate exhibition throughout Coral Gables, we aim to highlight the ubiquitous nature of these objects and their ambiguous intent to protect and control. By transforming a utilitarian object into a light work, the glowing objects will create a line throughout the streets of the city, evoking the divide and connection between our bodies.

The City of Coral Gables is turning on the lights. Illuminate Coral Gables (ICG), a new public art initiative focusing on the intentional use of light and technology to transform public art by day into magical and mysterious work at night, will be on view Feb 12-March 14,2021. Curated by chief curator Lance M. Fung with Catherine Cathers, Jennifer Easton and Rosie Gordon-Wallace, ICG, has been created for specific outdoor locations throughout Coral Gables. ICG’s eight projects include video projections, sculpture and art installations by a stellar group of local, national and international artists including Antonia Wright, Kiki Smith and Cai Guo-Qiang. Seven of the artworks are new site-specific commissions. ICG is a project of the Coral Gables Community Foundation.