Rashaad Newsome
“JOY!,” 2022
Collage on paper in custom mahogany and resin artist frame with automotive paint and crystals
67 1/2 x 67 x 5 inches
Image courtesy of the artist
This fall, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is set to open an expansive exhibition that invites viewers to imagine Blackness as one of limitless possibilities. Titled UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe, it's a group exhibition that explores the “critical connections between Blackness, scientific and spiritual cosmologies, and post-human thought.” UNBOUND highlights Blackness as a powerful force that lies at the intersection of creativity and the scholarly.
The show will take over the entire museum, spanning three floors and enveloping the viewer in a variety of media and conceptual ways of viewing Blackness. It highlights aesthetic practices, utilizing paintings, collage, glass art, and installation, while looking to celebrate and see the freedom that comes from the unknown.
Key Jo Lee, chief of curatorial affairs and public programs, organized UNBOUND. “This exhibition is a celebration of the vast conceptual capacity of Blackness, and treats Black existence with the same imaginative and intellectual openness we apply to thinking through metaphysics and the cosmos,” Lee says. “In doing so, it makes a radical claim that Blackness is not marginal, but central to how we comprehend being, time, and the universe itself.”
The first floor of the museum is dedicated to the themes of creation, divinity, and the mythological. It includes photos from the Infinite Essence series by Mikael Owunna, which is inspired by Nigerian (Igbo) and Malian (Dogon) beliefs that view Blackness as an “originary source of life.” To produce the series, Owunna shot portraits with a camera that only transmits UV light. The models are speckled in UV paint and are shot in total darkness, making them appear as awe-inspiring celestial beings.
Works on the second and third floors revolve around the theme of mapping Blackness, both geologically and astrophysically. Alison Janae Hamilton’s work is featured in this portion of the exhibition. One featured piece is titled BRILLIANT SKY (For Mary Ann Carroll), which pays tribute to the only female member of the Florida Highwaymen, a self-taught group of 26 Black artists who used vivid colors to depict the untouched landscape.
UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe will be on view at MoAD from October 1, 2025, through August 16, 2026. The timing of the exhibition coincides with MoAD’s 20th anniversary celebrations and the second annual Nexus: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week, in which the entire Bay Area region recognizes Black arts and culture.
This fall, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is opening an exhibition inviting viewers to imagine Blackness as one of limitless possibilities.
Mikael Owunna
“Chukwu’s Grief,” 2021
Vinyl
Dimensions variable
Image courtesy of the artist
Titled UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe, it's a group exhibition that explores the “critical connections between Blackness, scientific and spiritual cosmologies, and post-human thought.”
Allison Janae Hamilton
“BRILLIANT SKY (For Mary Ann Carroll),” 2025
Resin, mirrored glass, patina
25 7/8 x 20 3/8 x 3 3/8 inches
Photo credit: Jason Wyche
© Allison Janae Hamilton
Chris Ofili
“Third Eye Vision,” 1999
Oil, acrylic, paper collage, glitter, polyester resin, map pins, elephant dung on linen
96 x 72-3/8 x 6 inches
© Chris Ofili
Didier William
“Dark Shores,” 2024
Acrylic, ink, oil, wood carving on panel
80 1/8 x 52 1/8 inches
Courtesy of the artist and Altman Siegel, San Francisco
The exhibition will be on view at MoAD from October 1, 2025, through August 16, 2026. The timing coincides with MoAD’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
Lorna Simpson
“Reoccurring,” 2021
Ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass
102 x 144 x 1 3/8 inches
Image courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Harmonia Rosales
“Creation Story,” 2022
Oil on wood panel
48 x 72 inches
Image courtesy of the artist
Exhibition Information:
UNBOUND: Art, Blackness, and the Universe
October 1, 2025–August 16, 2026
Museum of the African Diaspora
685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105
Museum of the African Diaspora: Website | Instagram | Facebook
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Museum of the African Diaspora.
Related Articles:
Powerful Mixed-Media Carvings Speak to the Experiences of Black Womanhood
Visit Studio BE in New Orleans for a Look at Black Art and Culture in the Big Easy
Photographer Highlights the Vibrant Energy in Portraits From Los Angeles’ Black Market Flea
