“By salvaging and transforming this boat, we hope to honor the lives it carried and evoke the broader experience of displacement, struggle, and survival. According to the UN Refugee Agency, there are currently 117.3 million forcibly displaced people worldwide. The boat is a symbol not only of the Cuban diaspora but of all refugees.”

- Antonia Wright & Ruben Millares

At Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Wright and Millares present Exile, a two-part exhibition unfolding within the gallery’s Survey Space. Developed over several years, the exhibition reflects on the immigrant experience through themes of displacement, resistance, and survival. Installed across two interconnected spaces, Exile constructs a layered narrative that moves from monument to trace.

In the first space, viewers encounter the work that gives the exhibition its title: Exile, a large-scale installation centered on a refugee boat salvaged from the coast of Miami after washing ashore in Key Biscayne, Florida. Used by Cubans fleeing the island, the vessel becomes both artifact and witness. Through sound and light, Wright and Millares transform the boat into a defiant monument, honoring not only the Cuban diaspora but refugees worldwide.

The second space deepens the exhibition’s inquiry through gesture, and the ambiguity of numerical systems. The adjacent gallery presents a selection of Wright’s cyanotypes and Millares’ paintings alongside Desembarco, a collaborative standalone sculpture that embodies both exile and arrival. Found inside the refugee vessel was a makeshift paddle, a humble tool used to navigate uncertain waters. Wright and Millares embed this paddle into native South Florida oolite limestone, creating a grounded yet suspended object: a quiet monument to crossing, landfall, and survival.

Press Release

Curatorial Text