March 3, 2026

Nuevos Principios o In Praise of Change (To the People of Miami) is located in the courtroom waiting lobby at the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami Dade Justice Center.

In this monumental painting, Acha uses the spiral as both symbol and expanding form, evoking blooms, pinwheels, unfurling plant growth, shells, celestial bodies, and vortexes. Six colorful spirals expand, twirl, and intertwine across the composition, speaking to themes of transformation, renewal, and the cyclical rhythms of the natural world. This work honors Miami’s unique ecology and rich natural landscape: its relationship to water, the vastness of its sky, and its lush botanical and animal life. Each spiral, anchored by a bold circular node, casts off petal- or leaf-like arms that reach outward and overlap, creating transparencies and subtle color interactions across the painting. The work’s vibrant palette subtly recalls a rainbow, while also responding to the shifting experience of color and light in Miami—where water reflects and glimmers, and where human-made tinted glass surfaces on buildings, cars, storefronts, and sunglasses both shield against the sun’s intensity and scatter its light into prismatic hues. The painting’s saturated tones echo how light bounces and flickers through the Magic City’s tropical, humid air. Small, yellow, marble-like circles are scattered playfully throughout, nestled between spiral arms or appearing to support them, inviting the viewer to pause and discover them amid the layered forms.

This artwork is part of the collection of the Miami-Dade County Art in Public Places program, made possible with the support of the Art in Public Places Trust, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners.