Art as Legacy: Honoring 100 Years of Opa-locka - Art of Transformation 2025

Art as Legacy: Honoring 100 Years of Opa-locka

As the city of Opa-locka approaches its landmark 100th anniversary in 2026, Ten North Group invites you to a special conversation exploring how art preserves heritage, shapes identity, and strengthens community.

Led by Opa-locka preservationist Alex Van Mecl, this dynamic panel features local artists commissioned to create works honoring a century of Opa-locka history. Each artist brings a distinct perspective and visual language, contributing to both a formal exhibition and an interpretive guide designed to help residents and visitors experience the community through art.

Featured Artists

• Ana Rodriguez
• Stephanie Menjivar
• Julia Charles
• Destyni Swoope

WHO: Presented by Ten North Group

WHAT: Celebrate a century of Opa-locka’s history through art and heritage. This special presentation spotlights Ana Rodriguez, the artist behind the newly revealed Opa-locka Heritage Guide & Map, as well as four recently commissioned artworks by local artists honoring the city’s 100-year legacy. Explore how heritage is expressed through artistic transformation, reflecting the city’s cultural memory, resilience, and evolving identity.

WHEN: Friday, December 5, 2025 | 10 – 11 AM

WHERE: Historic Opa-locka Train Station, 490 Ali Baba Avenue, Opa-locka, FL | Free parking available

This free public event invites residents and visitors to experience how art interprets heritage, connecting Opa-locka’s past with its creative present and future.

Learn more at www.tennorthgroup.com/aot

Artist Bios

Destyni Swoope
Destyni “Desi” Swoope (1998) born to a Puerto Rican- American mother and a Bahamian, African-American father, was raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida. As a child with artistic inclinations, she found solace in creating, though the absence of prominent examples left her uncertain of the possibilities in the arts. Wrestling with identity while navigating a path for herself, Desi's aspirations in the realm of art felt unattainable. The craftsmanship of her grandmother, a master of various artistic disciplines like sewing, painting, and building, ignited Desi’s creative spark.Currently residing in Miami, Florida, Desi is focusing on themes of heritage, culture, and the preservation of deeply rooted aspects within the diaspora, she is forging a path for herself and others who share similar narratives of passionately understanding and affirming identity.

Drew Deng
Drew Deng is a non-binary (they/them) multimedia, first-generation artist of Ecuadorian and Chinese descent, working in Miami, Florida. Their work combines weaving, printmaking, and painting to collage personal memories and social analysis through storytelling.

Julia Charles
Julia Charles was born in the small village of Ladbergen, Germany, where she learned early that art could be a bridge that connects ideas, experiences, and people. As long as she had a pencil in hand, she could create worlds both familiar and new. Her journey later carried her to Miami, where the warmth, history, and diverse cultures continued to shape her creative language. She gathers humanity, everyday environments and nature, weaving them into her work across canvas, wood, and digital mediums.Julia’s art is a celebration of connection. Through her pieces, she explores the necessity of belonging, places where people can meet, feel, and be together.

Stephanie Menjivar

Stephanie Menjivar is an artist, marketer, and Art Business Mentor based in Miami, FL. Her yearning for creativity has led her through various career paths that have formed the basis of how she makes art. By day, you can find Stephanie actively involved in leading growth marketing initiatives at startups and helping artists build the art businesses of their dreams. By night, you can find her creating work inspired by her travels and the simple things that we often overlook in life.