Harmonia Rosales, an Afro-Cuban artist known for reimagining Renaissance and baroque iconography with Black bodies, and Ingrid Best, an Afro-Latina wine entrepreneur and art collector, discuss their friendship and mutual support in an interview for Cultured. They first connected at Rosales’s 2022 show at UTA in Los Angeles, where Best was part of a collective that purchased Rosales’s work, including the piece *Strangler Fig: Adam and Eve*. Rosales later became the first artist to invest in Best’s wine business, IBEST Wines, which sources from underrepresented regions. Their conversation covers ownership, community, and creating structures that sustain women’s legacies beyond mere representation.
This interview matters because it highlights how artists and collectors can build reciprocal, community-focused relationships that extend beyond traditional art-world transactions. Rosales’s work is currently on view at the Getty in the exhibition “Beginnings,” and Best’s collective ensures the art remains publicly accessible. Their partnership models a form of cultural patronage that prioritizes legacy, access, and cross-industry investment, challenging the often Eurocentric and exclusive norms of both the art and wine worlds.