MoAD’s physical building may be closed due to the mandatory shelter-in-place, but you can still get your fill of art and artists of the African Diaspora. Each Wednesday at 1:00 pm PST, join MoAD staff members as we visit some of our favorite artists in their studios to see what they’re currently working on and how their work is changing as a result of the quarantine. This is a rare opportunity to hear from artists directly from their studios. We will follow all talks with an audience Q&A.

‍Bri Williams is a sculptor, poet, and video artist based in Los Angeles, CA. In her sculpture work she collects found objects, family heirlooms, taxidermied animals, along with religious artifacts and encases or dresses them in soap. Within the soap the objects go through material processes of degradation and subsequent preservation. The object deteriorates within the hardened soap, a frozen capsule of time and change.

Through this erasure, the externalized self image evades subjective agency, comporting body and psyche to the codes of an imposing environment. Williams received her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MFA from Mills College, Oakland, CA. She has had solo exhibitions at Murmurs, Los Angles, CA (2020); Queer Thoughts, New York, NY (2020); Interface Gallery, Oakland, CA (2018).

Her work has been included in group exhibitions at Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, Austria (2021); Thierry Goldberg, New York, NY (2021); Chart Gallery, New York, NY (2021); Ochi Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Karma International, Los Angeles, CA (2018/2019); and Queer Thoughts, New York, NY (2018). Upcoming exhibitions include a two person exhibition at Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland and a solo exhibition at Progetto, Italy.

‍Generous support for this series provided by the Westridge Foundation

This series is supported by the Facebook Art Department, UNTITLED, Art Fairs and The Art Report.