MoAD Reopening Celebration Program

Last week I was at a ribbon cutting for the re-opening of the refurbished Museum of the African Diaspora on Mission Street. The ceremony took place in the lobby & gift shop. We heard prudently short speeches from Executive Director Linda Harrison, Harvard Professor Dr. Alejandro de la Fuente, Los Angeles artist Lava Thomas, & City Administrator Naomi Kelley. Ms. Harrison amusingly observed that museum visitors' priorities are first a place to sit, then a place to have coffee, then looking at great art. The Honorable Willie L. Brown Jr. was present to officially announce the MoAD's status as a Smithsonian Affiliate, & he name-dropped Colin Powell & Oprah in his remarks.

Photo credit: Kristin Cockerham,

The museum's anthropological history exhibits will be moved online, accessible via iPad stations on the 1st floor. The 2 floors above are for changing exhibits & events. Ms. Thomas's mixed media show, Beyond, features human hair and shapes that look like internal organs. The works appear to be very personal to the artist. The Drapetomanía exhibit commemorates a lost Cuban art movement of the late 1970s that looked to the culture of Cuba's African slaves for its inspiration. It was nice to see Patrick among the attendees, though he was quite disappointed at not being allowed to use his camera in the galleries.

§ Museum of the African Diaspora
Reopening Celebration Program
December 2, 2014, 12:10p

Drapetomania
Grupo Antillano and the Art of Afro-Cuba
Runs through Jan. 4, 2015

Lava Thomas: Beyond
Runs through April 5, 2015