Group portrait featuring (from left to right) Dorian Reid, Tahirah Rasheed, Key Jo Lee, Demetri Broxton, and Jasmine Ross.
The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its Emerging Artists Program (EAP) with the announcement of its 2026-2027 cohort. Bay Area artists Jasmine Ross, Demetri Broxton, Dorian Reid, and Tahirah Rasheed earned selection from hundreds of applicants. Each will present a solo exhibition at the museum over the coming year.
Since 2015, the program has engaged artists at pivotal moments in their careers by supporting the development of full museum exhibitions. Curators, production teams, and public programs contribute to each presentation. “What distinguishes MoAD’s Emerging Artists Program is that it is rooted in the belief that artists should be met at a pivotal moment in their careers through the platform of a museum exhibition, where the full weight of the institution is brought to bear in support of their work,” Key Jo Lee, chief of curatorial affairs and public programs at MoAD, tells My Modern Met. She adds that each exhibition arrives fully realized and invites sustained engagement.
The program has supported 30 artist over the past decade. Many have gained international recognition. MoAD is now looking toward its next phase with a refined structure and expanded reach. “The program is evolving toward a more fully realized residency model,” Lee says, “while remaining exhibition-forward, with the intention of expanding how and where this work lives beyond MoAD, nationally and internationally, over time.”
This year’s cohort reflects a wide range of materials and ideas. The selection process brought together curators, gallerists, and collectors. They evaluated each artist’s conceptual clarity, technical strength, and ability to sustain a full exhibition. “Across this year’s cohort, what emerges is a shared commitment to building worlds,” Lee explains. “These artists are not simply presenting objects. They are constructing environments, systems of thought, and ways of moving through time.”
Ross opens the series with Beauty Plus (March 18 to May 31, 2026). Her photographs document the final days of a historic Black-owned beauty supply store. The work examines identity, community, and commodification. Broxton’s show follows in the summer (June 10 to August 16, 2026). He transforms archival imagery into textile-based works that reflect labor and resilience.
Reid’s exhibition runs from September 30 to December 6, 2026. She connects personal history with broader struggles for liberation through sculpture and print. Rasheed closes the program from December 16, 2026 to March 7. 2027. Her neon installations explore rest, protection, and the power of Black womanhood.
These exhibition align with MoAD’s broader curatorial vision. The museum rejects linear storytelling and instead embraces layered narratives. “At MoAD, we understand Black life as something that is always unfolding across time,” Lee says, “Ancestry and memory are not stable archives that we simply access. They are partial, disrupted, and often withheld.”
As the program enters its second decade, MoAD continues to rethink how it supports artists. The focus now extends beyond a single exhibition. “Ten years in, the question becomes: what does it mean to not only present artists, but to remain in relationship to them?” The program aims to build sustained networks and long-term opportunities.
With this milestone cohort, the Emerging Artists Program strengthens its role as a platform for new voices. It also continues to shape the future of contemporary art within the African Diaspora.
San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora is celebrating 10 years of its Emerging Artists Program with a new cohort of rising artists.
Jasmine Ross, Lady #5, 2025. 4×5 Color Film, 19.25 x 25 inches. Image, Silver Aluminum Framed.
The program supports early- and mid-career creatives through fully realized solo exhibitions backed by curatorial and institutional resources.
Dorian Reid, Black Cat Power Flag, 2023. Linocut ink print on fabric. 21 x 28 inches.
This year’s cohort explores themes of ancestry, memory, and Black futurity across photography, textiles, sculpture, and installation.
Tahirah Rasheed, Not Your Muse, Not Your Savior, Not Your Silence, 2024. Red plastisol ink on paper. 18 x 24 inches.
As the program evolves, MoAD expands its model to offer longer-term support and broader opportunities for artists beyond the museum.
Demetri Broxton, Still Waters Run Deep, 2025. 40 x 25 x 1 inches. Japanese & Czech glass beads, sequins, cowrie shells, quartz, pressed glass, wooden beads, brass, silver, rayon chainette, wool, serigraph printed on Japanese sateen cotton, mounted on birchboard.