“A Woman Encased in Concrete,” is a Weird Miami bus tour led by visual artist, Yessica Gispert, exploring the cycles of death and rebirth that shape the city’s past and present. Inspired by the elusive grave at Miami City Cemetery—where a woman was allegedly sealed within a massive concrete block—this tour traces the shifting boundaries of memory, loss, and transformation that shape Downtown Miami. Weaving together personal and collective histories, we’ll move through a city in flux, where the past is entombed even as new forms emerge around us.
Jessica (Yessica) Gispert is a visual artist from Miami, FL. Her work explores mythology and mysticism, layering personal and collective histories in her work to investigate the boundaries of reality and the unseen. Gispert uses transformative processes to confront the instability and complexity of contemporary life, forming narratives that interrogate existence, loss and ritual. Contemplating life’s fleeting connections through material experimentations with wax, metallurgy and photochemistry, Gispert uses such substance as conduits to unknowable realms.
Gispert earned an MFA from NYU Steinhardt in 2012 and a postgraduate degree in Media Art from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2020. She is currently a Visiting Associate Professor in Photography at Florida International University.
Her work has been exhibited at galleries and institutions such as MoMA PS1, Museum Abteiberg, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Bonner Kunstverein, A.I.R Gallery in Brooklyn, NY and in her hometown at the FIU Frost Museum, Tunnel Projects Miami & Emerson Dorsch Gallery. She has received Art in Public Places commissions and awards such as various Miami Individual Artist Grants, an Ellies Creator Award and the Coral & Cathers Award. Gispert is currently an artist in residence at The Deering Estate in Miami, FL.
Teens and young adults ages 13-22 can buy tickets for $5 using the Get Tickets button below. With the purchase of one $5 ticket for someone within the age range, a second $5 ticket can be purchased for an individual of any age to join them.
