Muni Raised Me
Curated by Meymey Lee, Sasha Vu, and Celi Tamayo-Lee
2022–2023 Curatorial Residents

The continuing displacement of Bay Area artists and loss of non-profit arts spaces contributes to an increasingly homogenous and culturally inequitable arts landscape. Artists and community-based organizations contribute to the resilience of communities by creating space for people to come together, share their stories, celebrate beauty, mourn community losses, and transform their thinking. SOMArts proudly offers the Curatorial Residency program — a unique opportunity for emerging curators and artists to utilize mentorship and support to execute a large-scale exhibition in our 31,000 square foot gallery. Prioritizing the voices of underrepresented artists, residencies are awarded each season through an open call. The residency is designed to offer emerging and mid-career artists and curators the tools to further their curatorial practice and explore timely social issues.

This 9-month incubator has supported a wide range of artists, curators, and cultural communities ranging from The Third Muslim (curated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Yas Ahmed, 2018), Visions into Infinite Archives (curated by Black Salt Collective, 2016), and WorkMORE! #6 (curated by Mica Sigourney, 2014), to Mourning & Scars: 20 Years After The War (curated by Roxana Leiva, 2013).

Meet the 2022–2023
Curatorial Residents!

The Indigo Project
Curated by Bushmama Africa and Isha Rosemond
Opening Reception: December 9, 6–9 PM PST
Exhibition Run: December 10, 2022–February 5, 2023

Bushmama Africa and Isha Rosemond kickstart the 2022–2023 Curatorial Residency with The Indigo Project which demonstrates the living connection between Indigo, Cotton, and Denim across the temporal geography of the African Diaspora.

Muni Raised Me
Curated by Meymey Lee, Sasha Vu, and Celi Tamayo-Lee
Opening Reception: February 23, 6–9 PM PST
Exhibition Run: February 24–April 9, 2023

Meymey Lee, Sasha Vu, and Celi Tamayo-Lee’s multidisciplinary exhibition Muni Raised Me, is a love letter to working-class San Francisco and an exploration of belonging; to a land that is not ours, that we will never own, but that we owe.

Past Curatorial Residencies

  • DIS/PLAY curated by Fran Osborne
  • Refuge in Refuse curated by Robin Lasser, Danielle Siembieda and Barbara Boissevain
  • Glamorgeddon curated by Johanna Poethig, Angelica Muro and Hector Dionisio Mendoza