Information

STATEMENT

I am a Philadelphia born, San Francisco based visual and performance artist working in the tradition of social practice. I use representational portraiture to depict my own ancestors, historical individuals, and fictive subjects on canvas and in clay. I offer the opportunity for the audience to place themselves within history, contextualize the present, and aid in the illustration of our future. My performance work originates from long-standing vocal affinity, honed through classical and jazz training. I activate public spaces through improvisation of melody or story in order to draw focus to the significance of a moment or place. Through work that promotes reflection on history, introspection and interpersonal connection, I hope to foster a consideration of our shared humanity.

BIOGRAPHY

Mary W.D. Graham was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a family of artists and educators. She attended California College of the Arts where she received her BFA in Individualized Studies in 2022.

She began exhibiting, collaborating and performing in 2006 beginning with the inclusion of her social practice piece Political Fruit in A Conversation At The Table at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia. She was commissioned by Form4 Architecture in the co-creation of Andromeda Re-Imagined in 2019. In 2021 she performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art + San Francisco for Letters From Dogpatch curated by Suzanne Cockrell and Kim Anno.

In 2024, she opened her first solo exhibition at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco as part of their Emerging Artists Program for which she received national press coverage. She has been a visiting artist at UC Berkeley, the University of San Francisco and was a guest lecturer at San Jose State University in 2025. She has been awarded residencies at The Vermont Studio Center, Anderson Ranch in Snowmass, Colorado; Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine; Black [Space] Residency in San Francisco, and was a nominee for the Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship. Her solo exhibitions at Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery and the Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Arts will open in Spring of 2026.

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Education

2018—22 California College of the Arts, BFA with distinction

Exhibitions & Performances (solo)

2026 (forthcoming) Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery. San Francisco, CA
2026 (forthcoming) Value Test: Brown Paper. The Zora Neale Hurston National Museum of Fine Art. Eatonville, FL
2025 Value Test: Recollection of Tone. Performance, Berkeley Art Center, CA
2025 EXPO Chicago with Jonathan Carver Moore, Chicago, IL
2025 Outfit Possibilities. Performance, Your Mood Projects, San Francisco, CA
2024 Free Songs. Performance, Artist’s Television Access Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2024 Value Test: Brown Paper. Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
2023 Open Studio at Black [Space] Residency, San Francisco, CA
2022 Kin. Isabelle Percy West Gallery, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA

Exhibitions & Performances (group)

2026
(forthcoming) Drawn From Life. Sausalito Center for the Arts. Sausalito, CA

2025
Ritual and Resistance. Performance. TnT ART Lab. San Francisco, CA
Dive Barn 2. Performance. Hopland, CA
Root Division Auction and Exhibition. Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Atlanta Art Fair. Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Performance, twenty minute set. Beauty Supply, Oakland, CA
Arrival Art Fair. Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery, North Adams, MA
Archives Yet to Come. Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
Beautiful Scars. Jonathan Carver Moore, San Francisco, CA
Here & Now: The Bay Area Figurative Movement Grows. Sausalito Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

2024
The Black Woman is God. The Marlowe Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Bold Face. Radian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Re-Education–An Evening of Togetherness. Performance, Gray Area/Grand Theater, San Francisco, CA
di Rosa Community Day; Nathan Lynch: Stand-IN. Performance, di Rosa Center for the Arts, Napa, CA
Art Auction 2024 – Root Division’s 23rd Annual Benefit and Exhibition. Root Division, San Francisco, CA
An Assemblage of Spirits: Exploring Place and Identity in the Bay. Black (Space) Residency, San Francisco, CA
The Take Back. Marlowe Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Collecting Across The Diaspora: MoAD Benefit Auction 2024. Artsy.net and Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
Togetherness Ensemble. Performance, First Presbyterian Church of Oakland, Oakland, CA
Auction. Haystack Mountain School of Craft, Deer Isle, ME
In Reverence of The Feminine. Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA
HUES. Office of Senator Scott Wiener, San Francisco, CA
The Bay Area Figurative Movement Today. Sausalito Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

2023 Masmine. Performance,The Peacock Lounge, San Francisco, CA
2023 Museum of No Spectators. Burning Man, Black Rock City, NV
2022 you can hear the wind from beneath the floorboards. Root Division, San Francisco, CA
2022 Letters from Dogpatch. Performance, Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
2021 The Shape of Things, Land of Broken Dreams; The Artist’s Role In Society. Performance, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
2020 Seen X Unseen. Radian Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019 Andromeda Re-Imagined: A Sanctuary in Deep Playa. Burning Man, Black Rock City, NV
2016 Art Advocacy Speaks. The Spinning Plate Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA
2006 A Conversation At the Table. Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, PA

Honors, Fellowships & Residencies

2026 (forthcoming) Vermont Studio Center Residency Program. Johnson VT
2026 (forthcoming) Art and History Museums of Maitland, Artist In Residence. Eatonville, FL
2025 Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship Program Nominee
2025 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Artist-In-Residence Program. Snowmass Village, CO
2024 Haystack Mountain School of Craft Studio Residency Program. Deer Isle, ME
2023 Black (Space) Residency. San Francisco, CA
2021 California College of the Arts All College Honors
2019 The Hamaguchi Printmaking Award
2018 California College of Art First Year Honors

Press

Buchanan, Nora. ‘Archives Yet to Come’ at Berkeley Art Center re-imagines family legacies. The Daily Californian, April 17, 2025
Wilson, Emily. Mary Graham – Visual Artist & Singer. Art Is Awesome with Emily Wilson, April 1, 2025
Zialcita, Geraldine. Exploring Identity, Heritage, and History through Art. LuxClub Magazine, October 2024
Jackson, Alvin. Creative Celebrations with Mary Graham. Black Art Review, October 6, 2024
Lee, Rob. The Truth In This Art with Multidisciplinary Artist Mary Graham. The Truth In This Art Podcast, August 6, 2024
Dunn-Salahuddin, Aliyah. Kindred Spirits. MoAD Journal, June 1, 2024
Fehely, Devin. San Francisco artist uses unconventional medium to comment on colorism in the Black community. CBS San Francisco, May 19, 2024
Wilson, Emily. Striking probe of colorism leads to artist’s first solo show—at MoAD, no less. 48Hills, May 1, 2024
Klein, Kristine. Architect John Marx re-imagines a Greek myth for Burning Man pavilion. Dezeen Magazine, October 6, 2019
Barandy, Kat. Burning Man 2019 Pavilion Reimagines Myth of Andromeda for Female Empowerment. Design Boom Magazine, September 2, 2019
Copeland, Collette. Lonnie Graham: A Conversation at the Table. Exposure Magazine. Vol. 39:2, Fall 2006; Fotophile.com #51. May 23, 2006

Talks & Lectures

2025 Calling from Moment to Memory. Panel discussion, Afro Portals Project Space & Archive. Oakland, CA
2025 What She Said: Women In Art. Panel discussion, W Hotel, San Francisco, CA
2025 Call To Face – Portraiture and Melody As Tools to Unify. Lecture, San Jose State University, CA
2024 Visiting Artist, University of San Francisco, CA
2024 Visiting Artist, University of California, Berkeley, CA
2024 Value Test: Brown Paper. Artist Talk, Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA
2022 Kin. Artist Talk, California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA