SAFE SPACE: Miles Regis Builds a Portal for Emotional Shelter
By Josiah David Jones
June 15th, 2025
Image: Lincoln Center
“SAFE SPACE” On view at Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza | June 14 – October 14, 2025
Photo by Jerome. A Shaw
There are few artists working today who channel as many disciplines as Miles Regis. Painter, poet, musician and now, technologist. Even fewer can weave those languages together into something this intimate, this public, and this expansive. SAFE SPACE, his new immersive installation presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, is a living, breathing portal into an emotional landscape the artist calls “a paradise of sorts.” It is not escapist. It’s necessary.
“I kept asking myself what I could offer that felt most needed right now,” Regis says. “The world is in turmoil—socially, spiritually, environmentally. I wanted to create a haven. A place where people could feel complete comfort and the freedom to be themselves without fear.”
SAFE SPACE transforms the outdoor expanse of Josie Robertson Plaza into a digital sanctuary through augmented reality. Viewers activate the work with their phones, watching as layered visuals rise from the ground and dance around them. Eyes floating, color pulsing, symbols cascading. The experience is deeply interactive, but also deeply introspective. The imagery doesn’t overwhelm; it invites.
Regis’s signature visual language rooted in gesture, text, figuration, and ancestral symbolism translates seamlessly into this sculptural digital space. “It was a beautiful challenge,” he says. “Painting in virtual reality gave me the freedom to expand my forms and textures. I worked closely with Sutu from EyeJack, and he encouraged me to dream big. He took care of the technical lift, which allowed me to stay focused on emotional clarity.”
That emotional clarity is layered into every detail. Regis drew from his own memory, including his childhood in Trinidad and his recent experience grieving the loss of his father. “My father passed while I was creating SAFE SPACE. He was incredibly excited about the process and would ask about it every time we spoke. It became a tribute to him, even if I didn’t plan it that way. His spirit, and the spirit of our ancestors, is all over this work.”
It’s an intimate emotional origin for a public work of this scale—fatherhood, grief, safety, self-trust. But for Regis, that’s where the power lies. “My music and my paintings come from the same place,” he explains. “Sometimes I start with a theme and it evolves into both a song and a painting. Sometimes it’s all improv. I just follow the energy.”
Improvisation, in fact, is foundational to Regis’s practice. While SAFE SPACE may appear meticulously constructed, its soul was built in real time, responding to personal shifts and the social climate. “There’s so much fear in the world right now,” he says. “If someone can spend thirty or forty minutes here and feel peace, then I’ve done my part.”
Being featured at Lincoln Center is a milestone, but Regis isn’t chasing accolades. He’s chasing truth. “This is about connection. It’s about providing something real, even in a virtual format. If someone walks through this and feels more grounded, more seen, more human—that’s everything to me.”
He’s also thinking about legacy. Not in the form of awards, but impact. “I want to help the next generation of artists, especially from underserved communities, find their voice. I want to build platforms for them, create access where there wasn’t any. That’s part of the work too.”
And yet, Regis remains grounded in the present moment. “People ask what’s next after SAFE SPACE. Honestly? I don’t know. I move with life. I document in real time what I’m feeling, what we’re living through. The next idea will come when it’s time. For now, I just hope people show up—and feel something.”
SAFE SPACE by Miles Regis is free and open to the public June 14 through October 14, 2025, at Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza.
Visit LincolnCenter.org for hours and information.
AR Painting & Sound Design: Miles Regis
Interactive Installation & Animation: EyeJack
Recently exhibited works from Miles Regis below.
