"A Line in the Sand" critically examines the ethical and environmental contradictions embedded in Miami Beach’s idyllic image. This installation draws on the city’s history, specifically the labor of Carl Fisher, who spearheaded the construction of 1920s Miami Beach by reshaping its landscape with imported sand. Today, this practice continues as sand is imported to “refresh” the shoreline after storms wash it away—a costly and impermanent effort to maintain the illusion of permanence.

Anchoring this installation, a crumpled tropical photo backdrop re-presents the fragility and manipulation inherent in the city’s manicured identity. This backdrop, evoking the crushed ideal of Miami’s paradisiacal image, mirrors the erosion of the shoreline—a persistent threat exacerbated by rising sea levels and intensifying storms. Sandbags, typically used to secure backdrops, are repurposed here as a metaphor for the artificial barriers erected to preserve Miami’s pristine image. These barriers, physical and symbolic, highlight the city's struggle to maintain its allure despite the environmental and social contradictions it faces. Sand, the delineating material of Miami Beach, takes on a dual role: it is both a defense against the encroaching ocean and a representation of the exclusionary policies that have historically shaped South Florida. The history of rejecting Haitian and Cuban migrants is intertwined with the shoreline’s shifting sands, underscoring the human cost of sustaining the illusion of paradise.

By using sand and other ephemeral materials, the work underscores the impermanence and precarity of constructed environments. The materials critique the mechanisms that sustain Miami’s aesthetic appeal while exposing the environmental vulnerabilities and systemic inequities that lie beneath. The work calls into question the sustainability, both ethical and environmental, of a city built on shifting ground.