I got the all-call for the event – Now Be Here #3, a South Florida “gathering and photograph of female and female identifying contemporary artists” – from both Sebastian at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale and Tayina now of Girls’ Club. Tayina and Sebastian have been the most ardent cheerleaders of my art practice in 2016, so I had to show up.

Saturday, December 10th was a rainy day. Like, unbelievably rainy. The drive from Boca Raton to the Pérez Art Museum Miami was torturous and included a jack-knifed tractor-trailer, an hour parked in one spot on the highway just three miles from my destination, the car hydroplaning on the off-ramp, and me taking my place for the following pictures with mere minutes to spare – even though I’d planned to arrive 30 minutes to and hour before show time.

My reward for venturing and enduring, however, was running into Autumn and, through these documents, confirmation of my place as an artist in South Florida (I’m #216 and Autumn is right beside me with #35):