2025 Murphy & Cadogan opening reception; Photo courtesy of Claire S Burke.
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tim Etheridge media@somarts.org 415.786.1377 |
SOMArts Cultural Center and the San Francisco Foundation Announce the 2026 Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition
Opening Night Reception and Awards Ceremony on Friday, October 16, 7-9PM
August 5, 2026, San Francisco, CA — Celebrating its 15th year in one of San Francisco’s most recognizable galleries, SOMArts Cultural Center and the San Francisco Foundation are proud to present, in its 40th year, the 2026 Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition, featuring the work of 15 exceptional emerging artists pursuing Master of Fine Arts degrees at leading Bay Area universities.
Curated by Kevin B. Chen, the annual exhibition recognizes artists whose practices demonstrate outstanding creativity, technical accomplishment, and artistic promise across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, drawing, mixed media, and interdisciplinary practices. The exhibition showcases the next generation of Bay Area artists while highlighting the transformative role that scholarship support plays in sustaining creative practice.
The Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Competitive Award, a $40,000 scholarship, is presented annually to one MFA student of exceptional caliber. The Edwin Anthony and Adalaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarships recognize additional outstanding graduate artists, providing essential financial support ($6,500) to students attending California College of the Arts, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, San José State University, and Stanford University. Both awards are provided by the San Francisco Foundation, in partnership with its community of donors.
“For four decades, the Murphy Award and Cadogan Scholarships have showcased the best of what’s possible when donors partner with the San Francisco Foundation to create a thriving Bay Area,” says Esailama Artry-Diouf, Senior Program Officer who leads arts programming at the foundation. “We are immensely proud of the hundreds of artists these awards have helped nurture, and the impact their work has made in our community.”
“SOMArts is proud to partner, once again, with the San Francisco Foundation to celebrate and invest in the extraordinary talent emerging from the Bay Area’s MFA programs,” says Maria Jenson, SOMArts’ Creative & Executive Director. “For 15 years, this exhibition has provided a platform for artists whose work expands our understanding of the world and reflects the richness of our communities. At a time when support for the arts is more important than ever, these scholarships help ensure that emerging artists have the resources to develop ambitious practices and shape the future of contemporary art.”
Scholarship recipients were selected by Nancy Lim, Associate Curator at SFMOMA; Claudia Schmuckli, Holly Johnson and Parker Harris Chief Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; and Gericault De La Rose, artist and 2022 Murphy Award recipient. All recipients also receive mentorship from acclaimed artist and curator Kevin B. Chen and the team at SOMArts Cultural Center.
This year’s Murphy Award recipient is Mingqi Ma (California College of the Arts), whose intricate fiber-based works weave together Chinese cultural narratives, architectural references, and traditional textile techniques. Using materials such as raffia, wool, cotton, abaca, and gold thread—each carrying its own cultural and historical significance—Ma explores the preservation of cultural memory while embracing contemporary technologies. Through handwoven structures and digitally woven textiles, the work reflects on identity, continuity, and the evolving relationship between traditional craft and contemporary art.
Murphy Awardee Mingqi Ma, Homeland, 2026
Among the artists featured in this year’s exhibition are Cadogan awardees Chukwudubem Ukaigwe (Stanford University), Ariella Robinson (University of California, Berkeley), and Leyla Jamil Rzayeva (San Francisco State University), whose practices exemplify the breadth and conceptual rigor of this year’s cohort.
Ukaigwe’s multidisciplinary practice spans painting, installation, video, and social practice, drawing from experimental music, literature, history, and futurist thought. His work reimagines historical narratives through speculative forms that blur the boundaries between past and future, individual and collective experience. Through collaborative methodologies and layered visual languages, he constructs alternative ways of understanding community, memory, and social relations.
Cadogan Awardee Chukwudubem Ukaigwe, Beats per Minute, Kilometres per Hour, 2025
Working across textiles, photography, and archival research, Robinson investigates the instability of images and the hidden labor embedded within domestic and material culture. By combining digital textile printing with free-motion quilting, she layers personal archives, institutional documents, digital ephemera, and stitched interventions to create alternative forms of storytelling that examine memory, value, femininity, and historical construction.
Rzayeva’s installations, photographs, sculptures, and prints examine identity through processes of fragmentation, performance, and self-disclosure. Constructing immersive environments from photographs transformed into sculptural props and architectural elements, she explores the relationship between interior experience and physical space, creating emotionally charged installations that reflect on vulnerability, survival, and self-possession.
The 2026 exhibition also features work by the following Cadogan awardees:
- Alyssa Aviles, Stanford University
- eva birhanu, California College of the Arts
- Anna Isabelle Bruey Sedano, San Francisco State University
- mark thomas duffy, University of California, Berkeley
- Alex Ehmer, California College of the Arts
- Samantha Maria Espinoza, San Francisco State University
- Minh Lê, San José State University
- Kamyar Mohsenin, California College of the Arts
- Khadijah Morley, California College of the Arts
- Lian Yung, California College of the Arts
- Bhavani Srinivas, University of California, Berkeley
Together, these artists represent a remarkable range of contemporary practices that engage questions of identity, history, ecology, labor, migration, technology, and collective memory while demonstrating the vitality of the Bay Area’s graduate arts community.
The Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition continues a longstanding commitment by SOMArts Cultural Center and the San Francisco Foundation to supporting emerging artists at a pivotal moment in their careers, providing both significant financial assistance and a prominent public platform for new work.
Cadogan Awardee Leyla Rzayeva, Pit, 2026
Exhibition Calendar and Information
SOMArts’ address is 934 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103; Entry to gallery and opening reception are free, all ages
2026 Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition
On view Saturday, October 17, 2026- Sunday, November 15, 2026
To learn more, visit: somarts.org/murphycadogan2026
Opening Reception & Awards Ceremony
Friday, October 16, 2026, 7pm-9pm
To learn more, visit: somarts.org/murphycadogan2026-opening
Gallery Hours
Thursday, 3:00–7:00 PM
Friday, 12:00–7:00 PM
Saturday–Sunday, 12:00–5:00 PM
Accessibility
SOMArts is wheelchair accessible and in proximity to several nearby public transportation stops. SOMArts does not have automatic doors at its Main Entrance. Restrooms are ADA-accessible and low-scent cleaning products are used.
For more detailed information regarding accessibility at SOMArts, contact info@somarts.org with any related requests, questions, or concerns.
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About SOMArts
SOMArts, founded in 1979, cultivates access to the arts within the Bay Area by collaborating with community-focused artists and organizations. Together, we engage the power of the arts to provoke just and fair inclusion, cultural respect, and civic participation.
SOMArts is located at 934 Brannan Street—between 8th and 9th—within 2 blocks of 101, I-80, Muni lines, and bike paths. For public information call 415-863-1414 or visit somarts.org. Stay connected by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
About San Francisco Foundation
San Francisco Foundation is committed to a Bay Area where everyone can get a good job, live in a safe and affordable home, and exercise their political voice. The foundation advances its work through grantmaking, partnerships with donors, policy advocacy, and impact investing. Learn more at sff.org.
