Lecture - Sacred Bling: African Diasporic Beadwork
Sacred Bling: African Diasporic Beadwork with Demetri Broxton
Online presentation via Zoom. The presentation will be broadcast live from the Koret Auditorium at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Tickets for the in-person presentation are sold at the auditorium doors, and cost $5. In-person tickets are $5 and are sold at the door only.
A recording will be available for 14 days following the talk.
Beads are valued in every culture of the world and this value stems from the symbolism of them being connected together by one string. The meaning of interconnectedness and interdependence have been very well understood by ancient and contemporary cultures all over the world. Demetri Broxton will consider how bead embellishment is employed in African and African diasporan cultures to demonstrate how objects and revered people are signified through beadwork. Broxton will also discuss how his artwork connects to these traditions and brings them forward to the present.
Demetri's work is currently on display in the deYoung's exhibition Crafting Radicality: Bay Area Artists from the Svane Gift. The works on display, exploring themes of reclamation, resilience, subversion, and family, are drawn from the 2022 Svane Family Foundation gift of 42 works by 30 local artists.
Demetri Broxton is a mixed media artist of Louisiana Creole and Filipino heritage who was born and raised in Oakland, CA. His textile sculptures reflect his connection to the sacred art of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, the beading traditions of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, and his love of hip hop and graffiti. Broxton holds a BFA with an emphasis in oil painting from UC Berkeley (2002) and an MA in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University (2010). His work has been exhibited internationally and most recently at SFMOMA Artist Gallery, UNTITLED Art Fair, Marin MOCA, and the Chinese Historical Society of America. His work is held in several private collections and the permanent collections of the Monterey Art Museum and de Young Museum. He is represented by Patricia Sweetow Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.