Amoako Boafo, Bella Sontez, 2019. Oil on paper; Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer

Museum of African Diaspora Reopens With a “Refresh”

The Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco is reopening for the first time since the start of the pandemic this month with a “refreshed” space and a sensational line up of exhibitions (on view October 21, 2021–February 27, 2022).

These include the first solo museum exhibitions of two of the art world’s most celebrated contemporary artists today, Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo and Johannesburg-based textile artist Billie Zangewa.

According to MoAD press agents, both have taken the art world by storm with work that, in two very different ways, challenges an “othered” gaze of the Black figure.

In addition, there’s a site-specific installation by San Francisco-based artist Sam Vernon; the work of San Francisco multimedia artist Sydney Cain as part of MoAD’s Emerging Artist Program; and a presentation of short films by contemporary African artists curated by Leila Weefur.