On Saturday, January 17 from 3pm to 4pm, please join MAG Gallery for Working with Ancestors, a panel discussion with speakers Demetri Broxton, Afatasi, and Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen. The intent of the panel, Working with the Ancestors is a conversation with artists who tap into Black ancestral lineage, images, and culture through their practices. Through craft and ritual traditions, AfroFuturist imagination, and visual storytelling, they reflect on the ways they honor the ancestors with respect and how history and memory shapes possibilities of identity and culture.
Afatasi The Artist is a mixed-media conceptual artist, futurist, and proud native San Franciscan. Her artwork is a continuous exploration of the intersectionality of race, culture, gender, class, and geopolitics. Past injustices have shaped present-day realities, so what does this mean for our futures? The mediums used to navigate this question include textile, metalwork, and mixed-media visual arts.
Demetri Broxton is a Bay Area artist, independent curator, and the Executive
Director of Root Division in San Francisco. Born and raised in Oakland, CA, he earned a BFA at UC Berkeley with an emphasis in painting and an MA in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University. His artwork has been exhibited internationally and most recently at the Chinese Historical Society of America, Art Gallery of Alberta, de Young Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Kala Art Institute, and the Norton Museum of Art. Broxton’s artwork is held in several private and public collections including the Monterey Art Museum, de Young Museum, and Crocker Art Museum. He is represented by Patricia Sweetow Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen will be exhibiting at MAG Galleries during the San Francisco Art Week. Rhiannon is a San Francisco–based curator, artist, and educator with 20+ years of experience across visual art, performance, video, sound, installations, and traditional arts. Rooted in intersectional identities, their work challenges Imperialist frameworks through ritual, experimentation, and a methodology she calls “productive discomfort.” Founder of Black & White Projects and co-director of Emerging Arts Professionals SFBA, Rhiannon is dedicated to building inclusive, creative communities and mentoring emerging artists.