Feature

I / AM MIAMI: Amaranta Martinez

Everywhere we go, we celebrate people, values and shared passions, making our mark on our team, fans, and partners. You. Us. Together. Playing on the creative nature of the team and the Miami art scene, I / AM MIAMI heroes art in every form and the people that create it.

We speak to Miami-based muralist Amaranta Martinez about creating art that sparks joy, being an immigrant in the city, and the development of her work into the NFT space.

My career here in Miami started with a fun, cheerful brand; I was Art Director for the TV channel Nickelodeon. It was all bright colours, young minds and fun ideas. It was perfect; this was Miami. Back then, I mostly did animation, but then I started my own company Superama so I could explore and concentrate on my art even more.

My work has always been focused around combining positive stories with vibrant colours; I love that when people see my work, they smile. It brings people joy.

I like to bring fun and colours to the streets of Miami. Usually, the last mural I paint is my favourite, but I have enjoyed every single one of them, and I am grateful to be able to pick the projects I want to do.

The project that still means the most to me is a mural I did for Bunniecakes, the first vegan bakery in Miami. The owner contacted me about 12 years ago because she loved my illustrations and had bought some of my work from my online store.

When she opened her first bakery in Wynwood, I designed and painted the mural to cover the outside of her building, and then we became really good friends. Since then, I've created three more pieces for her. We're both successful female Latina business owners in south Florida, so we've become good friends and colleagues within the Miami art world.

My work has always been focused around combining positive stories with vibrant colours; I love that when people see my work, they smile. It brings people joy.

Amaranta Martinez

I grew up in Venezuela but moved to Miami at the age of 22, so my whole professional adult life has been here. It's been very eye opening. I'm so grateful to live here, because you can really breathe and feel the creativity everywhere, living in this melting pot of so many cultures, accents, stories.

There's always an inspiration for everything you do. My favourite thing about the city is that you don't ever feel like you're an immigrant, because everyone is an immigrant here. Everyone has Latin parents or European parents, or has an accent; there are people from all over the world. That makes Miami very rich in culture, which really develops the creativity here.

People who are born in the United States, they come to Miami and they feel like the outsiders. Everyone here is bilingual; Spanish is spoken more than English a lot of the time. Miami feels like its own small country, just really close to the rest of Florida.

Recently, I've started to develop my art into the world of NFTs and the Web3 space. I didn't know anything about it before, but now I'm obsessed. I'm really in awe of what is coming and how much we can grow as artists. Even though I love to make murals and I really enjoy getting dirty with real paint, I'm ready for what's coming in this digital world.

I had the opportunity to create an all-female-founded project called Tuttle Tribe, which is named after Julia Tuttle, the "Mother of Miami". She is the only woman to have founded a major US city. This community is a tribe of passionate, driven, female leaders who are pursuing gender equity in Web3 by increasing knowledge, network, and resources for female investors, collectors and creators.

When I started out in this new digital world, I felt lost and scared. It takes time to dive into these new things, but with this tribe, I feel secure and excited. Now it is one of my favourite projects I've ever worked on.

To me, NFTs are obviously a part of my art. It doesn't matter the medium; creativity means you don't have to limit yourself. Why would you limit yourself when you create art? It doesn't matter what medium you choose; the important thing is to create and share your artistry with the world.

For me, it has been a new opportunity to take my creativity even further, especially in something so new. I'm looking forward to making more projects in Web3.

I'm so excited for Formula One to come to Miami for the first time – what took you so long! Fast cars are a huge part of the Miami culture. You go to the supermarket and you see Lamborghinis, Bugattis, Porsches, and of course Aston Martins.

You see them everywhere; even if you're not a huge car fan, you feel that you know about it all. People are obsessed with that culture, so when I heard that racing was finally coming, I knew it would fit in.

Miami is a huge tech hub, too, not just with crypto and NFTs, but technological developments in general, so something as vast, technical and detailed as Formula One will fit right in. Everybody gets excited about events here, and this will be very prestigious.

Something of this magnitude coming to the city is a big deal. Everyone is excited and talking about it. I think all of Formula One will feel really appreciated when they get here, everyone will be surprised. As I said, what took you so long!

Thanks to Amaranta for making her mark: #IAMMIAMI