This exhibition has been canceled, postponed or can only be seen by appointment: we have decided to show it to you!
Miracle Village is a provocative exploration into the secluded lives of the socially excluded in a purpose-built community located on the outskirts of a rural town in an impoverished area of Palm Beach County, Florida. Miracle Village houses sex offenders, who, due to the stringent legislation, are unable to find housing, since the laws ensure them to reside at least 1,000 feet from any place where children congregate.
Thanks to Valiente, these outcasts, whose lives are forcibly connected by their offences and shared stigma, have for the first time been given a voice and identity. The undeniable artistic merits of the Miracle Village project lie not only in the exquisite photographic compositions, but in their candid portrayal of the feared and ostracised.
Muck City Road. A six-mile stretch of neglected pavement. There’s a certain smell to the air. Like cotton candy and smoke. Sugarcane fields cover the landscape in every direction as far as the eye can see. Three miles down the road and right beside a private village, there are train tracks. Locomotives ride the rails at the midnight hours. Their turbines sound echoes through this village. The people who live there don’t mind the early morning call of the sugarcane express. To them it sounds like progress. And they love that sound. Its name is Miracle Village. Over 100 sex offenders live here. – Joseph Steinberg (from the introduction to Miracle Village)
Sofia Valiente : Miracle Village
February 21 – April 9, 2020
Daniel Blau
Maximilianstraße 26· 80539 München· Deutschland
