MIAMI BEACH, FL (February 5, 2025) – VISU Contemporary, a fine art gallery in Miami Beach highlighting established and emerging artists, announces its upcoming exhibition, “Rare Earth” on view from March 1 to April 5, 2025, featuring over 25 photographs, many never exhibited, by the artist ROSE MARIE CROMWELL, on view in a gallery space for the first time. A public grand opening and meet-and-greet with Cromwell will take place from 6-8 p.m. on Saturday, March 1, 2025.
Cromwell’s recent solo museum exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami was titled, “A Geological Survey” and comprised of a personal reflection on identity, coming-of-age and familial relationships. Visu Contemporary’s “Rare Earth” exhibit continues this body of work by featuring new works which follow Cromwell, her mother and her young daughter on a journey through the American West, where the artist was raised. The project is grounded in memories of impressionable road trips out West as a child but contextualized by Cromwell’s experience of motherhood and anxiety about her daughter’s future.
Cromwell is interested in the history of photography of the western landscape – typically a male-driven, colonial space – but she aims to reframe it from the point of view of a mother and environmentalism. Often, depictions of landscape can separate the land from the photographer. On the contrary, she aims to make images that show the important spiritual relationship she has with the West, while acknowledging it as a geography that has a long history of exploitation.
In some of the images Cromwell, her daughter and mother perform for the camera in off-the-grid locations to illustrate how closely our identities and futures are tied to the land. Additionally, Cromwell photographs offer a wide array of found scenes, such as ruins of mining camps, rocks as talismans, and landscapes abstracted by light or mirrors to derive meaning from past wounds and find clues to a more sustainable future.
Evoking nostalgia, the unremitting passage of time, and an uncertain future, Cromwell contemplates intergenerational bonds and legacies through both her figural portraits and depictions of nature. Contextualizing deeply personal images with social and ecological concerns, such as humanity’s impact on the environment, Cromwell reinterprets the conventions of photography and artistic depictions of the region through experimentation with composition, abstraction, and materials.
"Rose Marie Cromwell’s 'Rare Earth' is a deeply personal yet universally resonant exploration of landscape, memory and motherhood. Through her lens, the American West is not just a place but a living entity—one which carries histories, scars, and the potential for renewal. This exhibition is a testament to Cromwell’s ability to reimagine the traditional landscape narrative through a powerful, maternal perspective. We are honored to present the many never-before-seen works, as well as three specific works recently acquired by the ICA Miami, and invite viewers to experience a world where land, identity, and legacy are inextricably intertwined,” said Bruce Halpryn, co-owner/ co-curator of VISU Contemporary.
“Rose Marie Cromwell: Rare Earth” debuts at VISU Contemporary the evening of March 1, 2025, with an opening viewing and reception to include a book signing with the photographer. For more information, visit visugallery.com.
About Rose Marie Cromwell
Rose Marie Cromwell (b. 1983, Sacramento, CA, lives and works in Miami) is an artist, whose work explores the effects of globalization on the local and the tenuous space between the political and the spiritual. Cromwell makes books, creates dynamic photographic and sculptural installations and is a filmmaker. Cromwell’s artworks are in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, High Museum of Art Atlanta, Light Work, Soho House as well as the libraries of The MET, MoMA and SF MoMA.
About VISU Contemporary
Established in 2022, VISU Contemporary’s success is a testament to Miami’s flourishing position in the global art market. Located one block from the Miami Beach Convention Center (home to Art Basel) and directly behind The Bass Museum of Art, VISU Contemporary seeks to contribute to the art history conversation by presenting provocative and inclusive exhibitions, projects, installations, collaborations and performances. Featured artists include David LaChapelle, Kate Abercrombie, Starsky Brines, Amber Cowan, Sibylle Peretti, Alfredo Álvarez Plágaro, Karen Rifas, Tyler Shields and Hendrik Zimmer, amongst others. VISU Contemporary is located at 2160 Park Ave. in Miami Beach. Abundant parking is available on the street, or in the parking garage at the corner of 23rd Street and Liberty Ave. It is open Wednesdays through Sunday, from noon to 5:30 p.m. by appointment. For more information, visit visugallery.com. To make an appointment, email info@visugallery.com or call (305) 928-7169.
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