Nexus 2026: Full Schedule

Join us for our annual San Francisco/ Bay Area Black Art week from Wednesday September 30th - Sunday October 4th, 2026!

4:00pm PDT

Artists in Conversation: Taylor Smalls, Jasmine Renee Ross and Akintunde Ahmad

Friday October 2, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT

Kinfolx @ 1951 Telegraph Ave Ste 4, Oakland, CA 94612, USA

Taylor Smalls + Jasmine Renee Ross + Akintunde Ahmad in conversation @ KINFOLX

Artists

Akintunde Ahmad

Artist

Born and raised in East Oakland, CA, Akintunde Ahmad is an entrepreneur who centers equity in all of his work. After graduating from the Oakland public school system, Akintunde earned a BA in Sociology from Yale University and an MS in journalism and documentary film from Columbia... Read More →

Jasmine Renee Ross

Artist

Jasmine Ross is a lens-based artist from Oakland, California, now living and working in the Bay Area. Her commitment to supporting artists is rooted in her academic background. A recent graduate of Yale University, Ross earned a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, as well as... Read More →

Taylor Smalls

Artist

Taylor Smalls is a contemporary palette knife painter based in Oakland, California, whose practice celebrates the depth, resilience, and beauty of Black and brown skin. Since 2012, she has centered her work on amplifying the kaleidoscopic nuances of melanated womxn, countering their... Read More →

Friday October 2, 2026 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Kinfolx 1951 Telegraph Ave Ste 4, Oakland, CA 94612, USA

Artist Talk, Event

5:00pm PDT

Exhibition Walkthrough with Lava Thomas, Sadie Barnette, and Cornelia Stokes

Friday October 2, 2026 5:00pm - 7:00pm PDT

Jessica Silverman Gallery @ 621 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA

Join Lava Thomas and Sadie Barnette for an exhibition walkthrough during NEXUS: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week, led by Cornelia Stokes, Assistant Curator of the Art of the African Diaspora at SFMOMA and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD). The walkthrough will bring the artists’ concurrent solo exhibitions at Jessica Silverman into conversation, exploring how each draws upon personal and collective histories to consider memory, family, place, and Black life across generations.

Arts & Culture Leaders

Cornelia Stokes

Assistant Curator of the Art of the African Diaspora, Museum of the African Diaspora | SFMOMA

Cornelia Stokes‘ curatorial practice is based in Pan-African practices and kinship, focusing on building community through the arts and philosophies of the Black diaspora. Looking to complexify the oversimplification of Blackness within mainstream culture, Stokes invests in opportunities to pr... Read More →

Artists

Lava Thomas

Artist

Lava Thomas is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersections of race, gender, representation, and collective memory. Grounded in an ethos of social justice, her practice spans drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, and site-specific installation. Thomas engages... Read More →

Sadie Barnette

Artist

Sadie Barnette is a multimedia artist who engages family legacy and black femme narratives. Through photography, text-based drawing, sculpture, and installation, she explores collective possibilities across space and time. Incorporating bright colors and sparkling rhinestones, Barnette... Read More →

Lava Thomas Looking Back jpg

Friday October 2, 2026 5:00pm - 7:00pm PDT
Jessica Silverman Gallery 621 Grant Ave, San Francisco, CA 94108, USA

Artist Talk, Event

2:00pm PDT

MoAD Mix | 60th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party

Sunday October 4, 2026 2:00pm - 4:00pm PDT

Museum of the African Diaspora @ 685 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA

MoAD's Keisha Jones in conversation with Dr. Xavier Buck, Founder and Chief Curator at the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland

Arts & Culture Leaders

Keisha Jones

Public Engagement and Interpretation Coordinator, Museum of the African Diaspora

Keisha Jones is a Public Engagement and Interpretation Coordinator and member of the Learning and Family Engagement team at the Museum of the African Diaspora, where she has led hundreds of students, non-profits, and corporate groups on engaging and educational journeys. A military brat, Air Force Veteran and former Hebrew Linguist, she has since... Read More →

Sunday October 4, 2026 2:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Museum of the African Diaspora

Artist Talk, Event