Oakland

Oakland has a long tradition of Black cultural production that is inseparable from community — and from accountability to real histories. The artists from here tend to make work that doesn't let you look away from what it's actually about. I find that clarifying.

When I wrote in the letter that we're composites of the people around us, I was thinking about the kind of art that makes that visible and specific. Oakland is a place where connection, ancestry, and presence get named with real force. That matters to me.