Commissioned for Art on the Plaza at the Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami (MOCA NoMi), Miami-based artist Edison Peñafiel presents a monumental installation of nine large-scale, vividly colored banners that activate the museum’s outdoor plaza.

Drawing from the lyrics of Latin American protest songs of the 1960s and 1970s, including Víctor Jara’s El Aparecido and Violeta Parra’s Run Run se fue pa’l norte, the installation unfolds as a collective narrative of migration, displacement, and survival. The banners trace the emotional terrain of departure: the tension between leaving behind what is known and stepping into an uncertain future shaped by necessity rather than choice.

Across the banners, figures appear in motion, running, carrying luggage, or caught mid-journey. At their ankles are wings, evoking Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger god and protector of travelers, symbolizing movement, transition, and fragile hope. The imagery is paired with phrases drawn from protest songs, idioms, and lived experiences of refugees, forming a multilingual chorus that reflects the layered realities of migration.

In response to the demographics of Miami and South Florida, Peñafiel expands the linguistic scope of the work to include Spanish, English, and Haitian Creole, emphasizing the plurality of voices that shape the region. As the banners move with the wind, they animate the plaza, transforming it into a living field of memory and motion, where hope, fear, urgency, and resilience coexist.

The works included in the installation are titled:

El que no corre vuela
Córrele que te van a matar
Y tuvimos que salir volando
Aprendimos a correr con el viento
Run Run se fue pa’l norte
Por aquí, por aquí, por allá
Run Run siguió su viaje
Vole wo vole wo pijon
Kouri Kouri Kouri

This project was commissioned by MOCA North Miami as part of Art on the Plaza, with production support by MAD Arts.