Architect and designer Germane Barnes emerges from one corner of the plaza. He removes an earpiece and puts his headphones in his pocket. The 37-year-old is also the director of the master of architecture program at the University of Miami and was finishing a work call.
The multihyphenate heaves a long sigh as he works to refocus his energies. Only a handful of hours before, Barnes was in Fort Worth, Texas, and now he stands in the middle of downtown Miami. He was in Texas to present a proposal to redesign a historic building that the Ku Klux Klan once occupied. Working to reclaim spaces that were once forsaken is kind of a passion for Barnes — and something that brought the Chicago native to Miami more than a decade ago.
In 2013, Barnes' architectural team was awarded a project through Ten North Group (formerly the Opa-locka Community Development Corporation) called Made in Opa-locka. "It was this idea of helping to revitalize resource-vulnerable neighborhoods with art and architecture," Barnes explains. "And the most important part of our proposal was that I would move here to the neighborhood because how can I help a neighborhood I never visited, never heard of, not a part of?"
While Barnes has many skills, he prefers to go by one title. "I just call myself a designer— or as I jokingly say, I draw shit." He laughs and leans his body onto the concrete barricade. As he moves away from the sun, his brown eyes pick up the reflection of the cool concrete, making them appear almost silver.
As an architect, his role is more than just dreaming up beautiful buildings and landscapes. "It's everything from the scale of a doorknob to a chair, to a sofa, to a building itself, to a landscape," he adds.
As an artist, Barnes holds himself to the same degree of perfection. Artists all work with their own unique drive. Some are driven by society, others by pop culture, some by politics, and some by their unexplainable imagination. Barnes prefers to begin the work with a question.
"I actually always hesitate to call myself an artist," he says. "I hesitate with that because I think it's just my own opinion that being an artist means there's a certain freedom, that you just make things for the sake of making them. All the things that I produce are in response to something, in response to a competition or a commission or a prompt."
Earlier this year, Barnes was commissioned by the Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) as part of its second-annual MOAD Pavilions series. The piece was unveiled this past weekend during the Miami Book Fair. It will remain on view at MDC's Wolfson Campus through February 2024 before relocating to the North Campus in March.
When it comes to the sculpture he created for MOAD, Barnes explains he was answering the invitation to create something to take over a large space downtown, "something that can invite people to participate, to rest, and can inspire people to have fun, enjoy it."
Barnes, like many artists, likes to draw inspiration from places that he's visited or lived. It's a large part of his practice. His time living in Cape Town, South Africa, directly inspired the sculpture he created for MOAD.
Titled Ukhamba, the 32-foot-wide, ten-foot-tall structure is meant to resemble a large weaving basket.
Germane Barnes oversees the installation of "Ukhamba" at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus.
Photo by Isabela Villaneuva, Courtesy of MOAD at MDC
He then sought to create a piece combining the weaving techniques he experienced in South Africa with construction elements you find in South Florida. The wood and steel materials are meant to be a nod to Florida, Barnes explains.
The large sculpture sits in the open plaza of Building 1, encouraging passersby to take a moment and step inside. You might even want to stay a little and rest or get some work done inside "Ukhamba."
"All the work that I do is always about inviting people and always about communal spaces," Barnes says.
"This is where people rest," says Barnes, gesturing to the open plaza. As he speaks, a small folded piece of paper shuffles across the floor by his feet. The page numbers and scribbled notes serve as a reminder that we're standing in the middle of a college campus.
"If the whole idea behind ['Ukhamba'] is to sit and rest, then maybe [the public will] want to sit and rest within the structure itself," he adds.
Ukhamba. On view through February 24, 2024, at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami, Building 1; moadmdc.org. Open to the public.
