Calida Rawles, Away with the Tides

Spelman College Museum of Fine Art is pleased to present Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides, an exhibition featuring recent works alongside a novel large-scale video installation reflecting natural environments and the rich cultural history of Miami, Florida’s Overtown neighborhood. Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides will open to the public on Friday, March 27, 2026, and will be on view until Saturday, Sept. 5, 2026.

Internationally recognized for her intricate and delicate acrylic on canvas paintings, Spelman alumna Rawles, C'98, blends hyperrealism with poetic abstraction and situates her subjects in dynamic, undulating spaces. Her recent work utilizes water as a vital, organic, and multifaceted element—as well as a historically charged space that concomitantly represents racial exclusion and individual healing.

Calida Rawles: Away with the Tides bridges the past and present, delving into the experience of Black people in America. Rawles partnered with Pérez Art Museum Miami and members of the historically Black community of Overtown in Miami to discover the interwoven narratives of place, memory, and belonging that animate her practice.

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