Artist Talk: Erina Alejo and
Adrian L. Burrell

Join us for an online conversation with artists Erina Alejo and Adrian L. Burrell, whose photographs are shown together (Floor 3, through Sep 6) as part of the series Bay Area Walls. In these commissions, both artists respond to the storefront murals and signage that have appeared in San Francisco and Oakland during the pandemic. Alejo and Burrell will be in conversation with scholars Dr. Tiffany E. Barber and Kazumi Chin.

Co-presented with Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts. In partnership with Kearny Street Workshop and EastSide Arts Alliance.

About the Speakers

Artist and researcher Erina Alejo, born and raised in San Francisco, works across time and place to construct archives on labor, displacement, family, and communal history. Alejo’s SFMOMA commission, My Ancestors Followed Me Here, explores the textures, cultural landmarks, objects, and people along San Francisco’s vibrant Mission Street before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Born and raised in Oakland, Adrian L. Burrell is a storyteller who uses photography, film, and site-specific installation to examine issues of race, class, gender, and intergenerational dynamics. His SFMOMA commission, It’s After the End of the World, Don’t You Know That Yet?, is a collective self-portrait that examines the normalized violence inflicted on Black lives in American society.

Dr. Tiffany E. Barber (moderator) is a scholar, curator, and critic of visual art, new media, and performance of the Black diaspora, who has published widely on abstraction, Afrofuturism, Black feminist praxis, dance, and fashion.

Kazumi Chin (moderator) is a poet, educator, and student of cultural studies at UC Davis.

Support for Public Programs and Artist Talks at SFMOMA is provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Distinguished Lecture Series.