The Wolfsonian commissioned New York-based photographer Miles Ladin to create a contemporary
portrait of Miami Beach bathing culture to complement the historical images on view in Beauty on the Beach. In his installation, wryly titled Sun Stroke Stimulus, Ladin’s photographs reveal, in his words,
“both the raw beauty found in bathing culture as well as the aspirational desires presented in the
display of flesh. Sun, surf, fabric stretched against buttocks, cleavage, and biceps are all tactile
elements that give our eyes pleasure. The acquisition of the tan, the physique, the lifestyle, is all meant
to entice the viewer to desire what they see.”
Ladin’s provocative installation is on view in the museum’s entrance lobby, and is free to the public. His
photography has been featured in The New York Times Style section, W magazine, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Ladin views his work as being about human consciousness. “My images are also a subjective document
of the human condition as it is reflected through contemporary times. I’m interested in man’s foibles
and vulnerabilities,” explains Ladin. “I also think that our existence is fraught with humor as well as
challenges. Making pictures with intelligence and formal complexity, my desire is to open the viewer’s
eyes to society’s excesses as well as the possibility for redemption in unvarnished beauty.”
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