“I’m really interested in the way our lives are built up out of memory and history,” José Parlá told Architectural Digest in 2019, “and how we reflect that in our surroundings.” Painting spontaneously, collaging the surface of the canvas with many layers of oil, acrylic, and paper—much as exterior walls in a city are layered with paint, posters, and time—Parlá invokes the racial and political tensions of the street. And he knows all kinds of streets. Parlá was born in Miami to Cuban parents, then moved to Savannah, Georgia, and ultimately to the bustling Bronx. For the Pérez Art Museum he’s created a series of momentous works that celebrate his native Miami. “Each painting bears the imprints of the region’s displacement, immigration, adaptation, and the transformation of words into gestures,” he explains, “made using the names of localities, countries, and its peoples.” —Elena Clavarino