An interactive mural featuring two soccer icons in Miami’s Overtown district is taking people through an augmented reality experience — and connecting them to the historically Black neighborhood's culture.
The piece has a QR code which, when scanned by a cellphone, allows you to “play a soccer game where you have to score as many goals as you can,” said Miami native artist Stefan Smith.
Participants have 30 seconds to land a score on the virtual leaderboard. And even more time to connect the mural with Black diaspora history, art, technology and soccer during Overtown’s Soul Basel, part of Miami Art Week.
The 11'x18' mural, called Overtown Pitch: Game Changers, is capitalizing on the excitement for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Smith said. Miami will be one of 11 U.S. host cities for the international tournament, which will be held across North America, including Canada and Mexico.
“So it's something that we really wanted to utilize, especially with the World Cup coming to South Florida in two years,” said Smith, an architect-turned-artist who has strong family roots in Overtown.
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The artwork, located on the site of the former Carver Hotel on the corner of NW 8th Street and NW 3rd Avenue, is part of an ongoing series by the Miami Museum of Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora, or MoCAAD.
It conveys "how the passion of one person can spark inspiration for all of us," and has multiple inspirations, Smith told WLRN.
Most visibly, the piece places a spotlight on two global athletes of African descent who’ve defied individuals odds: Crystal Dunn and Kylian Mbappé. U.S. women's national soccer team star Dunn is a World Cup-winner recognized as one of many trailblazers who’ve helped diversify the predominantly white sport.
The artwork shows her simultaneously kicking a soccer ball with Mbappé — the captain of the French men's national football team, who is of Cameroonian and Algerian
descent. He represents the tough experience of players with immigrant backgrounds. Mbappé, who became the youngest player since Brazil’s icon Pelé to score in a World Cup final, is often considered a beacon of hope for young African and Arab immigrants in poor neighborhoods in France.
Smith said he also drew inspiration from the Miami Edison girls varsity soccer team, made up entirely of Haitian players, who overcame homelessness and lack of proper equipment to win a championship this year.
"So this mural was designed with the Miami Edison girls varsity soccer team in mind and how they overcame their personal and team struggles to win the South Florida regional championship. And it kind of led me to find some other untold stories that haven't really been widely celebrated in the world," Smith said.
Even the placement of the mural has historical significance. The site of the former Carver Hotel, now a mixed-use residential building, was considered a landmark during the 1950s and 60s — it served as a cultural hub for Black visitors and entertainers who were racially segregated from Miami Beach hotels.
Smith said his grandmother worked as a secretary at the Carver Hotel. Painting the mural was a historical "call to home" for him.
But it’s also a historical story of loss. The hotel fell into despair when government policies like urban renewal and the construction of I-95 through the heart of Overtown destroyed Black economic mobility, displacing thousands of Black Miamians.
The community is keeping these stories of struggle and triumph alive through art and conversation during Overtown’s Soul Basel, a series of art activations.
Stefan Smith will join the founder of the Black Archives, Dr. Dorothy J. Fields, and MoCAAD cofounder Marilyn Holifield to discuss all things art and tech — organizers said these community gatherings help amplify “voices of the African Diaspora.”
And soccer is one of the best ways to do that.
“Soccer is played here and especially in the underserved communities in this country, soccer is still a big sport,” Smith said. “It’s a big thing and a sport that this country is really starting to adapt."
IF YOU GO
What: MoCAAD’s ARt Connecting Communities: A Night of Film, ARt, Virtual Reality, and Conversation
When: Monday, December 2, 2024 | Event Time: 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Where: Black Archives Historic Lyric Theater 819 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL
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