Miami-based photographer Josh Aronson debuts “Welcome to Wonder”
MIAMI — September 14, 2026 — Opening Nov. 7, 2026, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens presents Welcome to Wonder, a new site-responsive photographic installation by Miami-based artist Josh Aronson. Commissioned through the Contemporary Arts Program (CAP), the work transforms Vizcaya’s Hammock Paths and the Vizcaya Metrorail Overpass Ramp on SW 32nd Road into an intimate, immersive journey where portraiture, nature and place unfold together.
As visitors move along the walking path that connects South Miami Avenue to Vizcaya’s Entrance Piazza, enveloped in an endangered Rockland Hammock forest, and along the ramp from Vizcaya to the Metrorail, they encounter a series of contemplative views of nature and images of people experiencing nature. Together, these works provide unexpected moments of pause and discovery. Rather than passing through the grounds, visitors become active participants in the work, invited to notice the subtle relationships between themselves and the world around them. “Welcome to Wonder” explores themes of seeing and being seen, concealment and revelation as well as belonging and identity. The work creates a contemplative journey where observation gives way to reflection, connection and wonder. “The installation becomes both an artwork and an invitation: to enter Vizcaya through a state of wonder, openness and discovery,” said Josh Aronson.
“Welcome to Wonder” creates an opportunity to experience Vizcaya as a place of encounter,” said Helena Gomez, Vizcaya’s Curator. “Josh’s photographs invite visitors to slow down and look more closely at their surroundings and encourage reflection on our connection to nature and place.”
“Welcome to Wonder” continues Vizcaya’s century-old tradition of inviting contemporary voices to respond to the estate’s singular sense of place, echoing James Deering’s original patronage of artists like John Singer Sargent and Robert Winthrop Chanler. The Contemporary Arts Program brings to life Vizcaya’s mission to preserve its cultural and environmental resources so that people can connect with the past, understand the present and shape the future. Each year, artists reimagine the grounds through a new lens, offering visitors a different way to experience Vizcaya. This year located in the public-access outskirts of the campus, “Welcome to Wonder” reflects Vizcaya’s role as “A Home for Miami, An Inspiration for All,” welcoming museum visitors as well as passersby to come together in a shared moment without the need for an admission ticket.
“Welcome to Wonder” is Aronson’s first major public commission in Miami since No Vacancy, from the City of Miami Beach’s public art program, for which he became the first artist to receive both the People’s Choice Award and the Juror’s Prize in 2024.
THE OPENING RECEPTION
The exhibition opens to the public with a special reception on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the Superintendent’s Garden at Vizcaya Village, with remarks from the curator and artist at 11:00 a.m.
“Welcome to Wonder” is on view through May 25, 2027. The exhibit and can be experienced by the public during the museum’s operating hours, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., regardless of admission.
Media RSVPs: Media looking to attend the opening should RSVP to [email protected].
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Josh Aronson (b. 1994, Toronto, Canada) is a Miami-based artist and photographer raised in Florida. He received his B.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University. His work explores identity, belonging and landscape in the American South through staged photographs set in springs, swamps, beaches and backroads, imagining softer forms of boyhood and male bonding and using the landscape as a site for memory, play and transformation.
In 2024, Aronson became the first artist to win both the People’s Choice Award and the Juror’s Prize for No Vacancy, the City of Miami Beach’s public art commission. His first book, Tropicana (2020), is held in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Library of Congress. In 2025, he was awarded LensCulture’s Critics’ Choice Award.
Aronson’s work has been exhibited by museums, institutions and public art commissions including the NSU Art Museum, Florida; Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Louisiana; Belfast Photo Festival, Northern Ireland; and Nizhniy Tagil Museum of Fine Art, Russia. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Financial Times, Frieze, Italian Vogue, Teen Vogue, Dazed, i-D, The Guardian and Apartamento. He is the founder of Photo Book Speed Date, an artist-led public program held at institutions including SFMOMA, California; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; and Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Florida.
ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS PROGRAM (CAP)
Vizcaya’s Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) commissions artists to develop new work inspired by the estate’s unique history and landscape. Founded on the spirit of experimentation that defined Vizcaya’s origins in the early 20th century, CAP fosters dialogue between past and present and connects contemporary voices with one of Miami’s most iconic cultural landmarks.
“Welcome to Wonder” is commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. The program is supported by The Danielson Foundation, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, as well as anonymous donors and is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT VIZCAYA MUSEUM AND GARDENS
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is a National Historic Landmark in Miami, originally built between 1914 and 1922 as the winter estate of James Deering. Open as a public museum since 1953, this European-inspired estate welcomes 400,000 visitors annually and includes a Main House filled with decorative arts, 10 acres of formal gardens, native forests and mangrove shores.
The Vizcaya campus includes the historic Vizcaya Village on the west side of South Miami Avenue. Here, Vizcaya offers a Sunday farmers market, community programs on urban agriculture, wellness and other topics, and a charming Café in the restored Superintendent’s House that is open on weekends.
Located at 3251 South Miami Avenue (with the Village across the street at 3250 South Miami Avenue), Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is open daily, except Tuesdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day.
MEDIA CONTACT | For general media inquiries, please email [email protected].
