A piece from my Afro-Futurist screen-print series was included in The Black Woman Is God: We See Us, a group exhibition curated by Karen Seneferu for The Marlowe Gallery. Closing reception and artist talks took place on Friday March 28, 2025 at 6PM.

Williams (2022) and Cuffe (2024) from the series Value Test: Brown Paper were included in Bold Face, a portrait exhibition at Radian Gallery exploring the bold, the resilient and the impossible to ignore. Artists included, Joseph Abbati, Mike Goldberg, Mary Graham, Tim Guan, KC Ho, Pamela Mooney, Myke Reilly, and Phe Ruiz. Learn more.

Stand-IN was an activation of Nathan Lynch‘s exhibition, We Are Speaking at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Arts taking place on October 26th. Seven actors and performance artists–myself included–were tasked with delivering a historic speech or text by embodying the original deliverer. I chose to embody the Black Panther Party in both it’s past and contemporary contexts by reading out the Party’s 10 Point Program written in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton.

Performers included Zabrina Aleguire, Mary Graham, Ben Lunch, Nathan Lynch, Steuart Pittman, Aisha Rivera, and Jasmine Mengjiao Zhang.

Syphax from Value Test: Brown Paper was featured in Root Division’s annual benefit auction exhibition running from October 8th through 24th. Bidding closed after the live auction event on October 24th.

I exhibited Forten (2024) from Value Test: Brown Paper in this pop-up exhibition put together by Black (Space) Residency for Nexus, the first annual Bay Area Black Art Week. Curated by Trina Michelle Robinson. Artists included, Erica Deeman, Mary Graham, Charles Lee, Ron Moultrie Saunders, Mansur Nurullah, Shylah Pacheco Hamilton, and Trina Michelle Robinson.

Two works from Value Test: Brown Paper were included in this group exhibition co-curated by Osaze Seneferu and Brio Taylor III. Artists included, Cencere Baker, Tiphereth Banks, Akaysha Calhoun, Bryan Dominguez, Derick Davies, Jimmie Gabiola, Yosef Gebrej, Mary Graham, Cariesha Newton, Anthony Rodriguez, Malo Rosalia, Osaze Seneferu, Brio Taylor III, and Khushi Thakkar.

The continuum of gentrification and urban removal across the country has motivated us to organize an exhibition at Marlowe Gallery that intentionally resists the historical erasure of Black people and people of color. Our exhibit is designed to communicate and connect with young artists of color that share their interests, creating a strong feeling of unity amongst diverse groups. – Curatorial statement

Ward from the series Value Test: Brown Paper was included in the Museum of the African Diaspora’s 2024 benefit auction hosted by Artsy. Click here to view all works in the auction. Bidding closed on May 30, 2024.

In February my work was selected for an exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora as part of their Emerging Artists Program. I had the incredible honor of putting together my first solo show in collaboration with the chief curator Key-Jo Lee and the museum’s very welcoming team. That the work made it’s museum debut at MoAD and that I had the opportunity to witness it’s resonance first hand through the opportunities the Emerging Artists Program facilitated was incredibly humbling, and continues to fill me with a deep sense of satisfaction and gratitude.

ARTIST ACTIVATION AND RECEPTION

On Sunday, April 7th I hosted an artist activation and conversation surrounding Value Test: Brown Paper. Learn more about the event here. As guests entered the gallery, they were greeted with spoken word vignettes, as four commissioned artists delivered original compositions in response to themes of color, colorism, class, family origins and Black history. While researching for the project, I conducted informal interviews with scholars, artists and mentors about their response to “the paper bag test” as a phenomenon, as well as their own lived experiences with color and colorism. In exhibiting the work, and continuing to discuss it, many volunteered their own stories; a response that was deeply moving to me that I sought to encapsulate through shared poetry.

Dr. Jacqueline Francis and I began our conversation during the second half of the afternoon, welcoming attendees to share their own stories and become part of the dialogue.