Amoako Boafo’s first museum show ‘Soul of Black Folks’ is the toast of the local art scene, plus the MoAD won a grant from the NBA Foundation, and a cameo in a new Dockers commercial.

Plenty has been afoot at the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) since its late October reopening. Now that new shows are opening, the first museum show by celebrated Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo is mesmerizing critics, the museum has scored a generous grant from the NBA Foundation, and you can catch a glimpse of the museum in a commercial during an NBA game.

“Amoako Boafo: Soul of Black Folks” is on display through February 27. The Chronicle notes in their review that “As arresting as Boafo’s portraits are in thumbnails or digital pics, they astound in person. To enter the gallery is to be surrounded by images of Black people existing freely outside of the white gaze and the histories of oppression.”

Also on display is Johannesburg-based tapestry artist Billie Zangewa’s Thread for a Web Begun, also through February 27. 48 Hills has checked it out and says the show “employs a labor-intensive collaging technique using pieces of silk tapestries and other cloth to create jewel-toned scenes and figures with hyper-contemporary resonance.”

In other neat news, the MoAD was just names one of the recipients of an overall $11 million grant from the NBA Foundation. According to a release, “the grant will support the Museum’s Diaspora Stories Project, a paid, summer program for Bay Area youth who will work collaboratively with Black art professionals to explore their personal stories of the diaspora through digital photography and podcasting.”

And yes, you see the MoAD in the background of a new Dockers commercial featuring Ghanaian-American art curator and critic Larry Ossei-Mensah. Yes, it is a business-casual pants commercial. But it’s cool that they’re putting art critics in apparel commercials, and the MoAD is one of a few sweet San Francisco spots seen in the background.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for Kwanzaa celebrations, the MoAD’s 16th Annual San Francisco Kwanzaa Celebration: A Live Poetry Reading is an outdoor event at the Golden Gate Park Music Concourse on Sunday, December 26, 2021, from 3-4:30 p.m.

Related: SF's Museum of the African Diaspora Will Reopen Next Week With Updated Gallery Space, New Exhibits [SFist]


Image: @PeripateticMe via Twitter