Headlands 2025 Auction

As a new Board member and former Headland’s Artist in Resident, I am so pleased that the Headlands 2025 Auction was an outstanding success. The auction raised over 1 million dollars, and I’m happy to have contributed to the night’s success with the donation of Eye of a Monument. Works by Ruth Asawa, Teresa Baker, CrossLypka, Alec Egan, Laeh Glenn, Brett Goodroad, Patricia Iglesias Peco, Isaac Julien, Dashiell Manley, Alicia McCarthy, Vincent Pocsic, Michele Pred, Clare Rojas, Rose B Simpson, Stephanie Syjuco, Taller Los Tepalcates, Rafael Triboli, Catherine Wagner, Michelle Yi Martin, Livien Yen, and Maryam Yousif were also sold. Special thanks to Executive Director Louisa Gloger, Director of Development MJ Brown, the Auction Committee, and Board of Directors for a fun evening in support of the Headlands.

Read More about the Headlands 2025 Auction

Reunited Exhibition closed May 17th at CCA Campus Gallery

Portrait of Maya Angelou was featured in Reunited, a group exhibition that featured 12 artists who were from the National Museum of Women in the Arts’ longstanding Women to Watch program. Works varied across mediums and engaged with themes of identity, empowerment, history, labor, and cultural heritage. My work was featured alongside Sofía Córdova, Julia Goodman, Nicki Green, Rhonda Holberton, Cathy Lu, Adia Millett, Sandra Ono, Genevieve Quick, Davina Semo, Amy Tavern, and Katherine Vetne.

CCA Honorary Doctorate Recipient 2025

It was an extraordinary honor to receive an honorary doctorate from my alma mater, California College of the Arts, alongside filmmaker Rob Epstein, and artist Chris Johnson. Thank you to President David Howse, the CCA Board of Directors, and Faculty for this recognition of my work. I also thank my community of colleagues, mentors, collaborators, supporters, advocates, and friends.

Click here to read more

Library Laureates 2025 presented by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library

On May 3rd, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library presented “Spring Awakening: A Tribute to San Francisco Libraries in Bloom”. What a privilege it was to be named as a Library Laureate along with writers, poets and creatives Kevin Adler, Robert Mailer Anderson, Elaine Castillo, Dr. Monica Gandhi, Katy Hays, Leticia Hernández-Linares, Cathy Park Hong, E.Hughes, R.O. Kwon, Dorothy Lazard, Ginny Lim, Eve Marie Little, Alexis Madrigal, Lauren Markham, Abi Maxwell, Tomas Moniz, Brittany Newell, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Alison Owings, Kenard Pak, Beverly Parayno, Samantha Rajaram, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Sam Sax, Rebecca Solnit, Kara Swisher, Jim Van Buskirk, Hetal Vasavada, Steve Wasserman, and Colin Winnette. Pictured here with San Francisco’s Poet Laureate, Genny Lim, who is the first Chinese-American Poet Laureate of San Francisco. A special thank you to co-chairs Roselyne Chroman Swig, Susan Swig, Adam Swig and Genny Lim.

Read more about the event here

NEXUS/SF Bay Area Black Art Week Panel on April 20th 2025.

I had the pleasure of being on the panel to discuss NEXUS SF/ Bay Area Black Art Week during the San Francisco Art Fair. I was joined by NEXUS Founder and Executive Director and CEO of the Museum of African Diaspora Monetta White, SF gallerist extraordinaire Jonathan Carver Moore, polymath artist, author, and designer George McCalman. The panel was moderated by Director of Interpretation at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Abram Jackson.  Look for NEXUS this fall.

Read more about the event

Summoning Opening Reception - December 7th 2024

Summoning opens at Rena Bransten Gallery (1275 Minnesota Street, San Francisco, CA), this Saturday, November 23, with the opening reception on Saturday, December 7th. Looking Back IV will be exhibited along side a new tambourine installation. I’m in good company with Dawoud Bey, William Blake, Sydney Cain, Jonathan Calm, Rodney Ewing, Rupert Garcia, Doug Hall, Oliver Jackson, Hung Liu, Amalia Mesa Bains, Robert Minervini, Tracey Moffatt, Viviana Parades, and Rose Piper.

Learn more about the exhibition here.

Panel Discussion: Women in Public Art at San Francisco Main Library - November 7, 2024

On Thursday, November 7th, Mildred Howard, Cheryl Derricotte, and I will be in conversation about our public art practices as well as our work with galleries and museums. Join us from 6PM to 7:30PM in the Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Main Library. I hope to see you there. Learn more about the event here.

Beyond Conflict: Democracy and Unpacking the Causes of Exclusion at SFMoMA - October 24, 2024

On Thursday, October 24th, I participated in a panel discussion moderated by Gamynne Guillotte, Chief Education and Community Engagement Officer at SFMoMA, with Monica McWilliams, Emeritus Professor at Ulster University’s Transitional Justice Institute, José Maria Argueta, Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the Organization of American States (OAS) (2014–present), and Tim Phillips, founder of Beyond Conflict. Produced in collaboration with SFMoMA, California College of the Arts (CCA), and Beyond Conflict, we discussed the arts as a tool for building empathy in a climate of civic divide. Learn more about the panel here.

California College of the Arts Campus Unification: Making Futures Opening Celebration - October 19, 2024

It was pure pleasure to celebrate California College of the Arts’s (CCA) long-awaited campus expansion on Saturday, October 19th during the Making Futures Opening Ceremony. Remarks were given by President David C. Howse, Faculty TT Takemoto, Studio Operations Manager Jeremiah Jenkins, Writing and Literature student Alyssa Bardge, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, and me, Distinguished Alum. The new campus and studios are absolutely stunning.

Museum of the African Diaspora: Afropolitan Ball 2024 - October 5, 2024

MoAD’s Afropolitan Ball is the party of the year in San Francisco! This year it was also the culmination of NEXUS, San Francisco Bay Area Black Art Week, the brainchild of MoAD’s CEO, Monetta White. Thank you, MoAD, for inviting me to speak about the global significance of Black culture and MoAD’s impact on Black Artists’s careers - especially mine.

Nexus: San Francisco Bay Area Black Art Week - October 1–6, 2024

NEXUS is here! Brainchild of Monetta White, MoAD’s CEO, San Francisco Bay Area Black Art Week kicks off with events that feature the brilliance of Black artists and cultural workers. Thank you Jori Finkel at The New York Times for spreading the word. Read the article here. And a big thank you to Monetta White and George McCalman for convening us for the kickoff of the Bay Area’s inaugural Black Art Week. Thanks also to Brandon Ruffin for the beautiful images of our gathering.

Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman Unveiling - September 19, 2024

My sincerest gratitude to everyone who attended the unveiling of Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman: A Monument to Honor Dr. Maya Angelou for the San Francisco Main Library on September 19th. A special thank you to the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Library for organizing such a wonderful program. 

The full live-stream of the unveiling ceremony is now up on YouTube courtesy of Youth Speaks, as well as a mini documentary created SFGovTV for the SF Arts Commission.  Monument Lab also created a short video about my process – much appreciation to Yolanda Wisher and Paul Farber of Monument Lab.

Click here for an in-depth overview of the process.

An Evening with Monument Lab - September 17, 2024

A big THANK YOU to art advocates Ethan Beard and Wayee Chu, Monument Lab Director Paul Farber, and Senior Curator Yolanda Wisher for hosting a wonderful evening and conversation leading up to the unveiling of Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman: A Monument to Honor Dr. Maya Angelou for the San Francisco Main Library. Much gratitude to the entire Monument Lab Team and to everyone who attended.

Monument Unveiling Announcement - September 19, 2024

IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING! Join me on Thursday, September 19th at 10 am to celebrate the extraordinary life and legacy of Dr. Maya Angelou with the unveiling of Portrait of a Phenomenal Woman: A Monument to Honor Dr. Maya Angelou for the San Francisco Library. Poetry readings and performances by Youth Speaks and the African American Shakespeare Company will occur from 10am-2pm with the unveiling ceremony beginning at 11am in front of the Main Library on Larkin Street.

Portraiture and Legacy: The Hung Liu Estate at SFMOMA - July 9, 2024

On July 9th, I joined a panel discussion hosted by the National Portrait Gallery on the significance of the artist’s archive with Dorothy Moss, Director of the Hung Liu Estate, Jeff Lee of Ryan Lee Gallery, and Christina Ayson-Plank of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Last year I had the privilege of being part of Hung Liu’s “Sewing Circle”; a group of women who helped organize and catalogue her archive in preparation for its acquisition by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. Hung was a dear friend, mentor, and advocate, and the opportunity to delve more deeply into her archives has meant developing an even richer understanding of her brilliance in life and work.

Public Lecture at Stanford University - November 2, 2023

This fall, I had the pleasure of being a Visiting Artist in the Dept. of Art and Art History at Stanford University. My time with graduate students and faculty culminated with the lecture, Can Art Be a Catalyst for Change? where I discussed my role as an artist, activist, curator, and advocate as part of Stanford’s Millicent Greenwell Clapp Studio Lecture Series. A special thank you to Enrique Chagoya, Professor of Art, for inviting me.

Monument to Honor Dr. Maya Angelou Approved for Fabrication

In the fall of 2023, the SFAC's Visual Arts Committee approved the fabrication phase of Portrait of A Phenomenal Woman, a monument to honor Dr. Maya Angelou for the San Francisco Main Library. What an epic journey this has been! I am THRILLED to finally be in this phase of the project and GRATEFUL to everyone for their support.

Gallery Talk at SFMoMA: Witness Hung Liu - December 9, 2023

To mark the closing of the exhibition, Hung Liu: Witness at SFMoMA, former students and artists close to Hung Liu during her lifetime were invited to speak about a work in the exhibition. It was wonderful to join Rosana Castrillo Diaz, Maryellen Herringer, and Yulia Pinkusevich as we shared memories of Hung and gave insights into her work. The exhibition included paintings Liu made while in China during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, as well as works made shortly before she died.

Clouds of Joy is at ICA SF through June

“If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.” ––Combahee River Collective Statement.

I’m thrilled to share that Clouds of Joy (2021) is featured in Resting Our Eyes at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco. The exhibition, which centers the liberation of Black women through radical acts of rest and luxury, was featured in The Cut.

Curated by Tahirah Rasheed and Autumn Breon, my work is shown alongside Derrick Adams, Sadie Barnette, Traci Bartlow, Knowledge Bennett, LaKela Brown, Genevieve Gaignard, Ja'Tovia Gary, Lauren Halsey, Simone Leigh, Helina Metaferia, Ebony G. Patterson, Alison Saar, Lorna Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Adana Tillman, Leila Weefur, Carrie Mae Weems, and Deborah Willis.

Thank you to Tahirah, Autumn, the entire ICA SF team and supporters of the exhibition for their generous contributions.

Harriet tubman featured in ‘free as they want to be’

Harriet Tubman (2020) was included in ‘Free as they want to be’: Artists Committed to Memory which closed in March 2023. The exhibition considered the historic and contemporary role photography and film have played in remembering legacies of slavery and its aftermath. ‘Free as they want to be’ examines the social lives of Black and white Americans within the context of the land, at home, photographic albums, at historic sites and in public memory.

The exhibition was curated by Deborah Willis, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts, and Cheryl Finley, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History at Cornell University.

The catalogue, found here, includes 20 artists working in photography, video, silkscreen, projection, and mixed media installation: Terry Adkins, Radcliffe Bailey, J. P. Ball & A. S. Thomas, Sadie Barnette, Dawoud Bey, Sheila Pree Bright, Bisa Butler, Omar Victor Diop, Nona Faustine, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Daesha Devón Harris, Isaac Julien, Catherine Opie, Yelaine Rodriguez, Hank Willis Thomas, Lava Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Wendel A. White, William Earle Williams. The book is edited  by Cheryl Finley and Deborah Willis.