Carlos Alfonzo
Ceremony of the Tropics, 1986
Ceramic tiles
Santa Clara Station
NW 79th Street and NW 32nd Avenue

This vibrant hand-crafted ceramic mural, sited in the midst of Miami’s wholesale fruit district, incorporates symbols from the area and from Carlos Alfonzo’s own iconography.  In the artist’s words, “This mural celebrates the relationship of nature and man and how this interaction manifests itself, including the moment in which the fruit is trapped by the hand and given as offering at the table in intimate domestic ritual.  It is a ‘ceremony of the tropics’ and its symbols, in vibrant colors, in full public view.”  Alfonzo, who came from Cuba in 1980 via the Mariel boatlift, achieved national prominence in the art world before he died of AIDS at age 41 in 1991.

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