When the Museum of the African Diaspora reopens its doors, visitors will encounter a milestone moment—one that celebrates the museum’s 20th anniversary, reaffirms its role as a cultural anchor for the Bay Area, and pushes forward with bold new curatorial visions. With Continuum: MoAD Over Time and UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe on view, the institution is honoring its legacy while looking towards the future.
For Executive Director and CEO Monetta White, reopening MoAD after its lengthy hiatus is deeply personal. “The first thing I want to do is be able to welcome back our guests,” she said. “We’ve been closed for six and a half months and I’ve missed the activity in the museum.” Though White stresses that visitors won’t notice dramatic changes, the upgrades are designed to enhance how people experience art. “I just wanted to be clear that the building upgrades are the things that people most likely don’t see. It’s not a renovation. It’s not like we’ve knocked out walls and changed things like that. But what they will see are the things that are going to enhance the guest experience, which is that we’ve upgraded our lighting system for exhibitions so that exhibitions can be lighted well, and that’s going to make a big difference when they see shows.”
The return also comes with expanded accessibility, with new hours being added to invite more community engagement. “We’re going to try to bring some programming and some membership events and some evening activities on Thursdays,” White explained. These changes coincide with Continuum, a retrospective exhibition tracing two decades of history through archival materials, fine artworks, and program milestones. Visitors will encounter stories of MoAD’s Emerging Artist Program, its classroom initiatives, and signature gatherings like the Afropolitan Ball and Diaspora Dinner. Organized thematically and chronologically, the exhibition highlights the museum’s growth from a bold idea into a global venue for the art of the African Diaspora. The retrospective is also about deepening MoAD’s regional impact.
“I named it Nexus because I wanted that center point for both Oakland and the Bay Area,” White said. “Obviously, the Black population of San Francisco is less than 5%. And the audience we serve are artists, and it’s really hard to afford San Francisco. So a lot of them live in the East Bay, and I want East Bay, South Bay, North Bay—I want everybody to know that this museum is their museum.”
While Continuum looks inward, UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe is an outward gaze—one that stretches across galaxies. Curated by Key Jo Lee, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs, the exhibition brings together international artists exploring Blackness through creation myths, astrophysics, spirituality, and futuristic speculation. “This is an idea that I’ve had for quite a while,” said Lee. “As we’re reopening and really demonstrating how we are placing Black art and artists at the center of a global contemporary art conversation, Unbound, which for me is meant to give the most expansive lens we can possibly give on Blackness writ large, it seems like this pivotal moment to be able to express something so boldly.” With works spanning all three floors, Unbound asks visitors to imagine Blackness as infinite as the cosmos itself. Mikael Owunna’s photographs from his Infinite Essence series, which draw on Igbo and Dogon cosmologies, depict luminous bodies suspended in celestial grandeur. Harmonia Rosales’ Creation Story reimagines Yoruba deities within a Renaissance-style canvas. Meanwhile, Rashaad Newsome’s holographic sculptures and David Alabo’s immersive VR landscapes highlight technology’s role in contemporary art.
Lee describes the show as both cosmic and grounded. “I have a little bit of theoretical physics in my bonnet,” she said with a laugh. “I’ve always been uncomfortable with sort of straight linear narratives because I know that’s not how time really works. And so to me, in order to really capture, because there’s ways in which information, just like energy, it’s never really lost. Sometimes it is an embodied knowledge, sometimes it is an oral knowledge. So when I think about African ideology and the association with the cosmos, I’m taking this very seriously.” For Lee, Unbound offers an “open invitation” to imagine otherwise, to see Black art as both sacred origin and speculative future.
The reopening also coincides with the second annual Nexus: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week, which brings together artists, galleries, and cultural organizations across the region from October 1–5. The celebration includes open studios, talks, and two signature events: Global Groove Remix, a community party hosted in partnership with Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Afropolitan Ball fundraiser at the San Francisco Ferry Building. White views Nexus as essential to the museum’s identity. “For me, when it comes to MoAD, it’s like we represent the region of art and culture, not just San Francisco. We are rooted here in the Bay Area, serving our Bay Area audience.”
As MoAD turns 20, it’s definitely a time of reflection, but also an opportunity for celebration. “Being able to really say that this is how MoAD takes up our mission—it’s so exciting and really important,” said Lee. White echoed the sentiment with a focus on community. “Again, with our anniversary, I’m elated to open up our doors, get our visitors back in, see our exhibitions to be able to partake in this week, festivities of programming, and then our two celebration parties. So it’s pretty exciting.”Nexus / SF Bay Area Art Week takes place