Image Credit: UNBOUND Logo courtesy of George McCalman Co.; Cover of Suzanne Jackson’s publication What I Love: Paintings, Poetry, and a Drawing, 1972; © Suzanne Jackson, courtesy Ortuzar, New York.

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Building Universes – Two exhibitions, two ways of imagining the world anew.

Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love, illuminates the cosmos one artist can create through a singular, visionary practice, while UNBOUND: Art, Blackness & the Universe reveals what becomes possible when artists from across the African Diaspora build cosmologies together—ideas sparking ideas, worlds unfolding in conversation.

MoAD and SFMOMA invite you to spend an unforgettable evening in downtown San Francisco, moving between our neighboring museums and the artistic worlds they hold. Inspired in part by the spirit of the 1972 Black Art Expo curated by Suzanne Jackson, poets and dancers will offer original responses within the galleries, animating both exhibitions with live performance.

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Travel freely between the two sites, follow the pathways of art and movement, and see what new universe begins to take shape for you.

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Unique performances with poets and dancers will take place at MoAD and SFMOMA, each repeated giving you the opportunity to see one performance at each institution. Catch the first performance at MoAD and then head over to SFMOMA for the second performance, or start at SFMOMA for their first performance and find your way to MoAD for the second performance.

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PERFORMANCE TIMES ARE THE SAME AT BOTH MUSEUMS:

First Performance: 5:15-6:15pm

Second Performance: 6:45-7:45pm

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About the Curators

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The poetry performances will be curated by Nia Pearl and the dance performances will be curated by Raissa Simpson.

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Nia Pearl is an award-winning poet, writer, and environmental justice advocate working at the intersection of art, activism, and public engagement. She is an established host and event curator passionate about creating participatory spaces for creative expression and literary dialogue. Nia’s writing has been published in Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism,The Town: An Anthology of Oakland Poets, Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in the Time of Rebellion, and terra:soul: echoes from the future ancestors. She is one of the recipients of the 2023 Nomadic Press/San Francisco Foundation Literary Awards.

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Raissa Simpson is a post-disciplinary artist, choreographer, and scholar who moves between embodied practice and academic inquiry to interrogate complex racial and cultural identities through movement. As Artistic Director and founder of San Francisco's award-winning PUSH Dance Company, she has presented work at over 50 venues nationwide, including Joyce SoHo, Aspen Fringe Festival, and Ferst Center for the Arts. In 2023, she opened the Sanctuary, a dance space in downtown San Francisco dedicated to centering the lived experiences of BIPOC and global majority artists. She serves as a faculty member of Stanford University's Department of Theater and Performance Studies, teaching contemporary modern dance.

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Performers at MoAD

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Maurissa Brown (she/her) is a neurodivergent poet, artist, and environmental justice advocate. She was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles but is currently based in Oakland where she works to shift decision-making power to low income and historically redlined communities across California, while protecting these very folks from the devastating impacts of climate change. She explores art and writing as a tool of resistance, catalyst for change, and a practice for healing from systems designed for violence. Maurissa's writing has been published in About Place Journal's issue Shaping Destiny: Election Season, Before, During and After; her poem "a call from destiny" beats a rhythm of deep hope and movement. Maurissa earned a B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution, with a minor in Theater from University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently working on publishing her debut poetry collection.

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Tshaka M. Campbell is a London-born, California-based poet, performer, and cultural advocate whose work bridges spoken word, literary craft, and social impact. Known for his powerful delivery and lyrical precision, Tshaka has performed internationally at venues including the Apollo Theater, the Lincoln Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and London's O2 Arena. A former multi grand slam Champion and the first Black Poet Laureate of Santa Clara County, he has authored four poetry collections and released four spoken word albums, including his latest, NKISI- Spoken House. His work has appeared in BBC UK, Bridges Review, Rigorous, and more. Tshaka is the 2024 Periplus Fellow, poetry editor at Caesura, and sits on the boards of Silicon Valley Creates and Poetry Center San Jose. Through partnerships with organizations like the WHO, De Young Museum, and public transit agencies, he brings poetry into public life. He has recently released Blood at the Root with El Martillo Press in April 2025.

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Terrence Paschal is an originally self taught dancer from Stockton California. His first influences were street dance forms that originated in Oakland, Turfing and Popping. He was also inspired by Brooklyn street dance forms such as Bruk up and Flexn. It was through exposure to these forms and fascination with Micheal Jackson that led him to explore Ballet and modern dance forms. Today he utilizes various different street dance modalities to find freedom in expression and through teaching he aims to help others find their own unique voice as well. Social Media: toonworld1990

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Cresin Williams-Quinn, known as BravoQuinn, is a Turf Dancer from The Animaniakz dance team dedicated to spreading Turf Dance worldwide. Recognized for his athleticism, creative movements and motifs in his dancing. His origins are rooted in San Francisco, with an upbringing in Suisun City.  He learned his movements outside across the Bay with his community. His mission is to expand where street dance artistry can be seen and its cultural impact can be fully appreciated.

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Performers at SFMOMA

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Judy Juanita's latest book of poetry, Gawdzilla, calls out the evils of imperialism, ncluding nuclear aggression, equating it with the destructive movie monster Godzilla.Her poetry collection, Manhattan my ass, you're in Oakland, won theAmerican Book Award 2021 from the Before Columbus Foundation. Her work has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes three times. Her semi-autobiographical novel, Virgin Soul, is about a young woman who joins the Black Panther Party in the 60s [Viking, 2013]. Her essay collection, DeFacto Feminism: Essays Straight Outta Oakland [EquiDistance, 2016], examines race, gender, politics, and spirituality, intersectionally. Winner of the Tartt Fiction Prize at the University of West Alabama, her short story collection, The High Price of Freeways, was published by Livingston Press [UWA] in 2022. Her 2025 book of abortion-themed essays, fiction, and poems is titled Abortion (or Woman as Threefold Murderess).

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Wendy M. Thompson is a poet, writer, and scholar who hails from Oakland, California. Her debut poetry collection Black California Gold (Bucknell University Press, 2025) maps out life in the Bay Area during the 1980s and 1990s and was a finalist for the Martin Cruz Smith Award: Emerging Diverse Voices prize (2025 Golden Poppy Awards). Eternally interested in the black Bay Area, her forthcoming book Chasing the Sun: Staging Black Life, Belonging, and Displacement in California’s Bay Area looks at the cultural and performative worlds of black migrants and their descendants from the Second World War to the afterlife of the Second Great Migration. She most recently contributed an essay to Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California which accompanied the exhibit of the same name at BAMPFA. She teaches at San José State University where she is an Associate Professor of African American Studies.

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Natalya Janay Shoaf is a visionary storyteller who believes that movement is a catalyst for self-discovery. Natalya is the artistic director of Ja'LUUM, a pre-professional company for dancers aspiring towards professional careers in the arts. A 2025 CA$H Grant recipient, Natalya produced four shows in five months dedicated to the process of artistic evolution. Her choreographic works have been commissioned by Oakland Ballet Company, Alonzo King LINES Summer Intensive, Black Choreographers Festival, Los Angeles Dance Festival, among many more. She is inspired by truth and the process of uncovering it. Photography Credit: Maximillion Tortoriello 

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William Brewton Fowler Jr. is a Christian freelance dancer and emerging choreographer. He recently created a solo, Gentleness in His hands, during his 2024/2025 fellowship with Zaccho Dance Theatre’s Black Futures residency. William has received an Isadora Duncan award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance in the Individual category (2023-2024) for Zaccho Dance Theatre's "THE PEOPLE'S PALACE." www.brewtondance.com. Photo Credit: Alexa "LexMex" Treviño .

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This program is presented in conjunction with the current exhibition Unbound: Art, Blackness & the Universe, on view October 1, 2025 - August 16, 2026, and with Downtown First Thursdays. Check out the street party on Second Street between Market & Howard!

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This program is presented in partnership with SFMOMA and Suzanne Jackson: What is Love, on view September 27, 2025 - March 1, 2026

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