Artist Sharon Lombard at Afro Pop-up Shop in Bridge Tender House

Paolo and I scootered up to the Bridge Tender House at theWolfsonian at just the right time. The sun had not set yet, and Mr. Nobody (or was it Mr. Somebody?) well, multi-media artist Sharon Lombard was putting the finishing touches to the Afro Pop-up Shop installation she created with fellow artist/South African expat Heidi Chisholm. My eyes started shopping immediately even though the store wasn’t open yet — gold wooden plucked chickens, alligators, Khanga cloths, doilies, dolls and suitcases. Fun stuff!

“We put together a little souvenir stand of our experiences and memories of South Africa,” says Lombard, now a Miamian. “This Afro Pop-up Shop is a market stall that reflects our lives as immigrants. We invented a borderless country for this market, an explorers’ flag to be planted, and we have been designing and producing goods to sell here.”
Part art installation, part design exhibition, part commercial endeavor, and part souvenir stand with a twist, the installation, with its African-inspired, tongue-in-cheek goods, explores the notions of home, Africa, immigration, and globalization. Based on an African market stall, the Afro Pop-up Shop prompts us beyond the question, “Where are you from?” to more complicated questions regarding multiple migrations, invasions, post-colonial freedom, and the ability to board international flights. Aesthetically challenging yet instantly consumable, the installation is ultimately about transition, change, and making a home.

Afro Pop merch at Dynamo Museum Shop

The name comes from the isiZulu proverb, “He arrives Mr. Somebody and leaves Mr. Nobody.” Crystal. Look for it. www.mrsomebodyandmrnobody.com
On view now through February 4, 2012 at the Bridge Tender House in front of the Wolfsonian, 1001 Washington, Miami Beach. Goods for purchase inside the Dynamo Museum Shop. Proceeds from sales to benefit The Wolfsonian.

Afro Pop photos: ©cyn.zarco2011