Join us for a dynamic exchange with Pérez Art Museum Miami’s (PAMM) Art + Soul honoree, Fab 5 Freddy, in conversation with Franklin Sirmans, Sandra and Tony Tamer director at PAMM.
Across art, music, film, and television, Fab 5 Freddy’s work has consistently dissolved boundaries between so-called high and popular culture, creating space for Black creativity to be seen, heard, and valued on a global stage. His legacy is not only artistic, but deeply social—rooted in access, exchange, and cultural pride. Fab 5 Freddy will share the history of his uniquely creative path and how he continues to find ways to stay inspired and create in his upcoming memoir “Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture.”
About Fab 5 Freddy
Fred Brathwaite, also known as Fab 5 Freddy, is a pioneering graffiti artist who became one of the first to exhibit his paintings internationally helping ignite the street art movement. Fab 5 Freddy gained notoriety early in 1980, when he famously painted Warhol soup cans on a New York City subway, most effectively symbolizing the bridging of worlds so elemental to his practice. He led the charge of early graffiti artist moving into galleries giving birth to the street art movement. The original co-host of the groundbreaking show “Yo! MTV Raps,” Fab 5 Freddy’s work in film and television also includes co-producing, starring in, and composing music for the cult classic film “Wild Style.” He has also directed music videos for numerous hip-hop stars, including Snoop Dogg, Nas, and Queen Latifah.
Brathwaite lives in Harlem, where he continues to make visual art, produce, and direct projects for film and television, and leads the social equity cannabis brand he co-founded, B Noble. His artwork was recently on exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in Writing The Future: Basquiat & The Hip Hop Generation. This March, Brathwaite is publishing “Everybody’s Fly,” a memoir with Penguin Random House which will help retell the history of a seismic cultural moment from his uniquely powerful perspective.
As part of PAMM’s commitment to accessibility live translation for this program will be available in Amercian Sign Language, Spanish, and Haitian Creole. The program will also be streamed live, online via PAMM’s Youtube Channel.
