Conversations at MOCA - Light as Sublime and the Salacious

Join us for a conversation inspired by the current collection exhibition, Light Play, curated by Adeze Wilford with Kimari Jackson. In this discussion, we consider the dynamic use of light in creative practices throughout greater Miami and delve into the dual nature of light as both ethereal and provocative. Discover light's potential to both transform and transcend with a panel that includes art practitioners, educators, curators and administrators. Panelists will include Amanda Sanfilippo Long and Jeffrey Noble, Artist & co-founder of We Are Nice ’n Easy. This event will be moderated by Thom Wheeler Castillo.

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Meet our panelists

‍Amanda Sanfilippo Long (b. 1984 Minneola, NY), holds a MAContemporary Art History, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London UK(2012), and BA Art History, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT(2007). She is the Curator & Artist Manager for Art in Public Places ofMiami Dade County, a nationally renowned public art commissioning program now celebrating 50 years. Art in Public Places is part of theDepartment of Cultural Affairs of Miami-Dade County, where she is also the Director of the South Florida Cultural Consortium. She also maintains a role as the senior Advisor of, Fringe Projects, Miami, FL.Amanda shas a background of curating, commissioning, and recommending acquisitions of contemporary art, and effective fundraising and strategic planning for public art and contemporary art not-for-profit and government organizations including Projects, Miami,FL; Creative Time, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art,New York, NY; BCA Center, Burlington, VT.

‍Jeffrey Noble is a Miami based artist born in Melbourne Fl in 1987. Noble received his BFA from New World School of the Arts in Miami FL in 2013. In 2015 Noble met his future collaborator and partner Allison Matherly while both were working at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami. They went on to form the art and design collaborative We Are Nice’n Easy LLC. We Are Nice’n Easy focuses on creating immersive mixed media installations often referencing themes of self-help and interpersonal dependency, utilizing romantic tropes to create a platform for intimate exchange. We Are Nice’n Easy maintains a studio in Miami and has exhibited works at Locust Projects, Spinello Projects, Art and Cultural Center of Hollywood, Young at Art Museum and The Bass Museum. They have completed several public art projects throughout South Florida commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami,Miami-Dade Art in Public Places, Miami Beach Art in Public Places, Broward Public Art & Design, Downtown Hollywood Mural Project among other private commissions. Their mural Off the Deep End won the Miami New Times “Best Mural” of 2017, they were winners of a South Florida Cultural Consortium Grant in 2018, awarded a fellowship as Artists in Residence in Everglades in 2019 and received a Miami Individual Artist Grant in 2023

‍Thom Wheeler Castillo lives and works in Miami, FL; Interested in landscape, environmentalism and ecosystems, he works from an interdisciplinary approach entwining histories, earth sciences and anthropology to espouse living through the anthropogenic era. Since 2021, he's embarked on cultural missions throughout the Caribbean region, working with Curator Rosie Gordon-Wallace and the Diaspora Vibe Cultural Arts Incubator's International Cultural Exchanges (I.C.E). He is currently an Artist-In-Residence Studio Fellowship with DVCAI and a 2023 recipient of its Catalyst award. He also participated in the 2023 AIM biennial, a conceptual program promoting outdoor ephemeral, virtual, and physical art projects by cultural practitioners based and affiliated with the state of Florida. He works with various institutions throughout the region as an educator including Perez Art Museum Miami, History Miami, A.I.R.I.E. (Artist in Residence in the Everglades), the Rubell Museum, and the Miami Design District.