Celebrate the opening of This is America: Selections from PAMM’s Collection with an intimate artist and curator meet and greet. Join exhibition artists Gonzalo Hernandez, Sandra Ramos, and Eddie Arroyo with Maritza Lacayo, Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) associate curator, to commemorate the United States of America’s Semiquincentennial.
While at the museum, stop by the Engage Miami station to register to vote and make your voice heard.
About This Is America: Selections from PAMM’s Collection
This Is America: Selections from PAMM’s Collection marks the Semiquincentennial––the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence––through artworks drawn from the permanent collection of PAMM. Bringing together works by artists from diverse cultural backgrounds and across multiple time periods and media, the exhibition presents a multiplicity of perspectives on American history and identity. Featuring artists such as José Bedia, Judy Chicago, Alfredo Jaar, and Rashid Johnson, alongside Miami-based contemporaries including Eddie Arroyo, Thomas Bils, Gonzalo Hernández, and Sandra Ramos, This Is America situates national narratives within the cultural dynamics of Miami.
The exhibition traces how American artists have responded to pivotal moments of crisis and transformation––from the Civil War and World War II to 9/11, the COVID-19 pandemic, and modern social and political conditions––while also foregrounding forms of cultural expression rooted in resilience, community, and joy. Reflecting on both somber and triumphant historical events, the works in This Is America frame the nation’s 250th anniversary as a moment not only for commemoration and celebration, but also for rumination.
By foregrounding the work of American artists––including women, immigrants, Black artists, Indigenous artists, and artists of color––the exhibition emphasizes national perspectives historically underrepresented in American art. This Is America underscores PAMM’s commitment to collecting and presenting art shaped by a broad range of experiences and invites visitors to engage with the evolving story of the United States through the museum’s permanent collection.
About Gonzalo Hernandez
Gonzalo Hernandez was born in Lima, Peru and lives in Miami. He received his MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Kates-Ferri Projects, New York; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah; ICPNA, Lima and Vigil Gonzales, Buenos Aires and Cusco. His work has been featured in international exhibitions such as the II Bienal Textil (Santiago, Chile), the AIM Biennial (Miami), and group exhibitions at Mindy Solomon Gallery (Miami), LVL3 (Chicago), Laney Contemporary (Savannah) and Charlotte Street Foundation (Kansas City), among others. His work is included in major public and private collections, including PAMM; ICPNA, Lima; the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah; El Espacio 23, Miami; among others. Hernández’s work has been reviewed in ARTnews, Hyperallergic, Cultured Magazine, Artpapers, Artnet, Burnaway, and numerous others.
About Sandra Ramos
Sandra Ramos was born in Havana, Cuba and lives in Miami. Ramos is a multimedia visual artist who has achieved recognition for exploring critical themes in politics and society, including the complexities of identity, nationality, ecology, and emigration. She uses diverse media, materials, and techniques, including video, photography, painting, installation, sculpture, and etching. Throughout her more than 30-year career, Ramos has exhibited internationally in diverse institutions. Recent solo exhibitions include: From Ashes to Light, PAAP Miami, FL (2025); Impossible Dialogues, PAAP, Miami (2024); Entropydoscopes, Lowe Art Museum UM (2023); and Both Sides Now at DRCLAS Harvard (2022). Recent awards and art residences include the OOLITE-ARTPACE Home Away Residency, San Antonio, TX (2023); Miami Individual Artist Grant (2022); Ellis Creator Award, Miami (2021); Cleveland Foundation (2017); and The Studios of Key West (2016). Ramos’ work is in the collections of MOMA NY, MFA Boston, the San Diego Museum of Art, PAMM, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Havana, the Bronx Museum, the ASU Museum, the Ludwig Forum Aachen, TBA21 Vienna, and the Fuchu Art Museum in Tokyo.
About Eddie Arroyo
Eddie Arroyo received his BFA in Painting from Florida International University in 2001. His practice delves into the exploration of evolving scenes and subjects, capturing people and places amidst the forces of American capitalist hegemony. Through his art, Arroyo investigates grassroots movements and communities undergoing change, reflecting on themes of assimilation, power, and identity. Arroyo’s works are held in permanent collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, ICA Miami, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, KADIST Collection, the Scholl Collection, Jorge Pérez’s El Espacio 23, the Taschen Collection, and Marquez Art Projects. He has presented solo exhibitions at the Haitian Heritage Museum, Spinello Projects, the Bakehouse Art Complex, and Swampspace. In 2018, he was awarded the South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Fellowship and lectured at Florida International University’s College of Communication’s MFA in Curatorial Practice Lecture Series.
About Engage Miami
Engage Miami builds civic equity and power through voter activation, civic education, leadership development, and local and state issue organizing. They center young voters and leaders, ages 16–35, to build young people’s political power in majority Black and Latinx communities. Their mission is to build a more just, democratic, and sustainable Miami by developing a local culture of civic participation for young people that is bold, creative, and impactful.
