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The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) Celebrates Ten Years of the Emerging Artists Program and Announces the Awardees for 2026-2027
Ancestral Echoes: Crops of Empire explores the role of African Americans in cultivating the South’s foundational cash crops: cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice. Using archival photographs, textile-based portraiture, and ritual adornment, Demetri Broxton reimagines ancestral figures as icons of labor, resistance, and spiritual endurance. At the center of the exhibition is a mobile altar featuring living tobacco plants grown by the artist, inviting community participation and reflection. Through material storytelling and embodied memory, this work examines the violent histories behind these crops while honoring the cultural knowledge and resilience passed down through generations of Black life in the Americas.
Tickets to visit MoAD and view the exhibition:
(MoAD) is pleased to announce Bay Area artists Jasmine Ross, Demetri Broxton, Dorian Reid, and Tahirah Rasheed as the 10th cohort of MoAD’s annual Emerging Artists Program (EAP) for 2026-2027. The awardees were selected from hundreds of applicants, who will present single artist shows at MoAD from spring 2026 through early 2027. Each of these exhibitions are centered in MoAD’s continued mission to place art of the African Diaspora at the center of the global cultural conversation.
The EAP reflects MoAD’s commitment to supporting, exhibiting, and amplifying the work of Black artists living and working in the Bay Area. As a leading contemporary art museum focused on the global African Diaspora, MoAD is proud to incubate innovative practices and foster long-term artistic growth.
Generous Support Provided By Bernard Osher Foundation, Karen Jenkins-Johnson and Kevin Johnson, Robina Riccitiello and the Westridge Foundation