Lack of representation often calls for the creation of authenticity and diversity. The artist and photographer did exactly this in his Tropicana project. Aronson, who was raised in Miami, didn’t see the authentic essence of his hometown represented in the way that he knew to be his reality – Florida often having been commoditized and misrepresented to fit an ideal of a holiday vacation. As he himself puts it, Tropicana “breaks away from the sensationalized narratives” and shows what he knows to be true: “My work responds directly to that Florida we were raised knowing. Participating in this narrative, and making Florida my life’s work, means adding my gentle, queer, colorful, and intimate angle to the archive of Florida imagery.”
In Tropicana, two, Aronson contributes to this imagery through striking, colorful portraits of the state’s youth – among them, a collective of artists, activists and local talent – to showcase the rich social diversity he grew up surrounded by. When gazing through the photos, one can feel a sense of blissfulness and euphoria embedded in the vibrance of the pictures and colors. “My work is a celebration of the joy and intimacy so tightly bound to the lives of young people growing up in Florida. There’s a reason why my pictures are colorful, expressive and in motion.”