My co-host this week is A-lan Holt, a playwright and movie maker (Inamorata– with a screening August 4th at the Blackstar Film Fest), and the Associate Director of Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts (Instagram @a_lanmoon). Now here’s our picks.
July 20 – Aug 26: “Abracadabrakaafrika” (the video above) by Oakland singer, community organizer and video maker Zakiya Harris is just one of the works on display at SOMArts in San Francisco as part of the new exhibit, The Black Woman Is God: Divine Revolution. Co-curated by Karen Seneferu and Melora Green, the exhibition features works by 60 black women artists in a range of styles and media. The show touches on how African religions (Yoruba and others) feature female deities. But it’s also about how artists, like gods, are creators. “What does it mean for a black woman to create,” Seneferu told me, with Green finishing her thought. “To add to that, to have the audacity to create.” Green said. “When you look around this room, you’ll find a lot of women who’ve been creating in hiding. Most of these artists have experienced someone telling them that it (their work) doesn’t look good or doesn’t fit. And in this room, we’re saying your work is dope as hell.”
SOMarts will also host a Wikipedia edit-a-thon on Saturday, July 22, inviting people to help fill in the gaps in art history minimizing black women artists. Admission is always free. Details for the show at SOMArts are here.

June 2 – Aug. 13: MACLA, San Jose’s Chicano and Latino arts space, is hosting the show Shelter/Refugio, a critique of how we think about everything from the evaporating American dream of a suburban home, to how we care for the homeless, the immigrant, and the refugee. The show includes a piece by Chris Treggiari and (UCSF Professor) Sergio De La Torre that simulates a raid by immigration agents inside the gallery.