Exhibition Spotlight - HERE: Pride and Belonging in African Art

Here is an exhibition years in the making. More than 30 visual artists part of the LGBTQ+ community have contributed to this deep and varied show. The two main themes for the exhibitions are identity and belonging. 

What stood out to me the most was how tightly identity was bonded with community in the artwork. Family bonds, work bonds, friendship bonds, national bonds, and bonds with others in the queer community. That association showed through so strongly, it really drove the show for me and made turning the next corner to see what was next compelling. In what new ways can an artist convey a message? 

Inside jokes, shared traditions, a simple social event, the creation of the artwork itself; all these instances are documented in a way that really comes through in the show. The act of creating art of course can help form and sustain community and this is also evident in Here. In this exhibition, even a camcorder video documentation of a small wedding is, in and of itself commentary and art. Here is a window into both the individual artists and the wider queer community across the Africa continent (and diaspora). A truly connective show, considering the vast and differential mediums represented.

About half the countries on the African continent criminalize LGBTQ+ people to some extent. This show also exists in that context. Here also took inspiration from two similar shows from the past “The Progress of Love” a 2012 exhibition in Lagos as well as “Precarious Imaging: Visibility Surrounding African Queerness” a 2014 exhibition in Dakar.

Originally slated to open during World Pride in DC summer 2025, the Here eventually opened in January. The show will close August 23, 2026, which was the original close date. The Smithsonian National Museum of African art is located on the National Mall adjacent to the Smithsonian Castle. 950 Independence Avenue SW.

New Commemoration for Ben's

Ben's Chili Bowl days before their recent grand opening, May 2026. "The Torch" mural was still visible.

Detail of "The Torch" mural at Ben'c Chili Bowl. Artists: Aniekan Udofia with Mia Duval.

For the past seven years I have used the mural on the west wall of Ben's Chili Bowl to weave together multiple narratives that make up the Art & Soul of Black Broadway walking tour. The mural features a plethora of figures important to U Street, Washington, DC, and American history in general. In order from when you entered the alley were Barack and Michelle Obama, Harriet Tubman, Muhammad Ali, Prince, Chuck Brown, Roberta Flack, Donnie Simpson, Russ Parr, Taraji P. Henson, Wale, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Jim Vance, Marion Barry, Dave Chappelle, Dick Gregory, Jesse Jackson, Cathy Hughes, and Bruce Johnson. Shortly after the restaurant reopened this month post-major renovation, the owners announced that the mural would be replaced.

Temporary mural featuring Mystics players and four local legends including Virginia Ali, owner of Ben's Chili Bowl. artist: Katty Huertas.

While calling on the general public to suggest ideas for the new mural, a temporary mural went up over the now defunct one: a collaboration with Washington Mystics basketball team Washington Mystics. In the center of the mural are players Kiki Iriafen, Shakira Austin, and Sonia Citron. Flanking the players are painted portraits of Winnifred Lee, Virginia Ali, Shirley Horn, and Pearl Bailey. Lee and Ali are considered business pioneers on U Street, having opened two of the longstanding Black-owned businesses there, Lee's Flowers and Ben's Chili Bowl. Horn and Bailey are among the top tier of performers who made U Street "Black Broadway" with Pearl Bailey actually being credited with establishing the term Black Broadway. The temporary art is as much an homage to contributors of U Street history and culture as it was an advertisement for the Mystics new alternative jerseys for the 2026 season which began the night of the mural unveiling.

Murals are an ultra-ephemeral part of the built environment. And that's a good thing, ultimately. Visual artists using a medium such as murals can adapt to represent the times in a way architecture isn't always able to. Architecture's semi-permanence also means it tends to end up defining the times more so than offer frequent comment on it. Murals on the other hand rely much less on infrastructure, funds, or expectation of permanence. Even with the force of nostalgia they come and go to such an extent that when a mural does persist into the next era, what remains isn't always as understood as it was on debut. So, many details get lost over time -- the original artist, intent, meaning, colors or materials, elements, and even physical footprint. To me, a 20 year old mural is equivalent to a 200 year old building -- you really do not come across one too often in DC. And since the bureaucracy of making a new building is extensive, while a murals' creation could leave not even a paper trail, there aren't often "records" to refer to when researching DC murals. On the flip side, the era of unmitigated documentation on social media combined with the current popularity of murals as public art has resulted in new avenues to track their origins, meaning, and correct attribution.

Mural that previously existed outside 1344 U Street NW. Artist: @ArtBlocDC.

Before "The Torch" version of the Ben's mural was painted, I used to end the U Street tour at another mural a half-block away. That mural simply included the words "BLACK BROADWAY" in huge block letters with a short quote by DC hip hop artist Head-Roc. After its abrupt removal in 2019, I rewrote the end of the tour to reflect not just the loss of the mural, but also the changing landscape of the neighborhood, including the perception of the neighborhood. When a mural disappears, its relevance to almost everyone that takes a tour drops to near zero. Guests are somewhat interested in art trends ("When did the murals program begin?" "Has non-sanctioned graffiti declined?," etc.) and extremely interested in interpretation of existing murals, but also seem to understand and perhaps appreciate the ephemeral nature of street art. However, they want to experience the neighborhood as it is, even while learning about how it was. As for the new Ben's Chili Bowl mural, there are still some unknowns. It's unclear if Ben's will utilize the DC government's Murals DC program, which would fund the work by paying a muralist or muralists directly. There is no publicly available timeline for the mural's completion. We also of course do not yet know the artist or artists. And the question of questions: who or what will be depicted? Who would you like to see? Stay tuned for updates.

Despite Closures, Celebrations Persist

In April 1866 two regiments of Black troops stood in front of the White House as cannons rang out to welcome President Johnson. The crowd offered up three cheers for the President. President Johnson shook hands with onlookers, stepped up, and gave remarks regarding the celebration at hand: marking the 4th anniversary of the end of slavery in the District of Columbia. After the President’s remarks, a crowd estimated at 10,000 watched a procession of nearly 5,000 Black men march to the U.S. Capitol and back to Franklin Square to hear remarks from the Reverend Henry Highland Garnet. This was one of the first large public celebrations of emancipation in Washington DC.

The Emancipation Proclamation went into effect January 1, 1863 and the 13th Amendment was ratified December 6, 1865. But in Washington, DC, slavery ended on April 16, 1862 with President Lincoln’s signature on the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act. 3,100 enslaved DC residents were made free on that day. At the same time, enslavers were compensated by the federal government for ending the institution. This was the first large-scale emancipation of enslaved people by the federal government. It was an important landmark, establishing that the federal government had the authority to end slavery in territories under its jurisdiction; later leading to the Emancipation Proclamation as well as the 13th Amendment. It also remains the only time enslavers were compensated for the dissolution of slavery in the U.S. 3,100 DC residents were emancipated. And 930 petitions for compensation by enslavers were approved over the next 9 months.

1866 celebration of Emancipation in DC. (Harper’s Weekly)

The large Franklin Park celebration four years later marked the short period of freedom but also called for universal suffrage as well. Full rights and opportunity across the board. Voting, equal protection, free association, religion, speech, equality in public accommodations like housing and schools; the fight for rights continued for more than a century after the Franklin square celebration. 

We still celebrate Emancipation Day here in Washington DC. Emancipation day is an official local holiday in the District of Columbia, typically April 16th. While some government workers have the day off and schools are closed, there are often public celebrations, including a parade and city-sponsored gathering. For decades, that gathering has been held at Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. In 2026, the celebration was set to move back to Franklin Park, but not by choice. Freedom Plaza was closed then and is still closed as of today.

Freedom Plaza closed for the time being.

Freedom Plaza is one of an increasing number of public spaces closed as we move into the Spring and Summer seasons in the District of Columbia. Dupont Circle, Malcolm X Park, Freedom Plaza, Lafayette Park, and Logan Circle are all public gathering spaces that have been, are, or will be closed for extended periods of time as a result of an initiative by the name Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful. The initiative came in the form of an executive order in March of 2025. There is an act making its way through Congress that would codify the Executive Order into law and is similarly titled: Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act of 2025. After passing in the House, the bill is currently sitting in the Senate. Nevertheless, work continues via the power of the Executive Order issued in 2025.

Among other mandates, the order empowers the Secretary of the Interior to emphasize urban beauty and update maintenance of various public spaces. Many of the public spaces are public commemorations like monuments & memorials, or parks & plazas, especially those with water fountains like Lafayette Park, Malcolm X Park, and Freedom Plaza. The main issue (especially regarding touring) is that when a public space is closed by the task force, little or no notice has been given, and the timelines for work have or will interrupt visitation. Two spaces I utilize on regular tours are closed for the foreseeable future, Lafayette Park and Freedom Plaza. On those tours I use the iPad to show spaces to illustrate elements we would typically visit in person, or reference elements from afar.

As close as one can get to the White House at the moment.

Heavy duty fencing around the White House.

Closing a part of one park for a few weeks would likely go unchallenged, but the closure of multiple open park spaces at the same time, during the busy outdoor and tourist season has drawn some local consternation. Especially in light of other alterations in DC including the erasure of Black Lives Matter Plaza. Lafayette Park, Malcolm X Park, and Freedom Plaza also all have history as places for protest, rallies, and other gatherings for free speech activities. Each of those spaces will have overlapping closure this year including right now. That’s three fewer places to gather, protest, or hold a popular rally.

Flyer for the 2026 DC Emancipation Day program (held on April 19).

The 2026 Emancipation Day program was set to be moved back to Franklin Park. However interest far exceeded what the park could potentially hold. So, the official DC Emancipation Day program was held on April 19, but back at Freedom Plaza, specifically, on the streets adjacent to Freedom Plaza. Read more about the program here, but it was an all day event with a short parade and musical portion with national artists like T.I. and Mya (from DC!) and local go-go bands. The program was free.

What can we do when access to public spaces pause? Keep learning!

• Ever wanted to know which universities offer public history programs?: https://ncph.org/program-guide/

• Are you a museum learner? Find a museum: https://www.aam-us.org/programs/about-museums/find-a-museum/ 

• Celebrate and engage in existing historical spaces and resources around DC history: https://subjectguides.library.american.edu/c.php?g=175019&p=1153864

• Advocate for more, new public histories. One current chance we have is regarding the redesign of Pennsylvania Avenue. Let the National Capital Planning Commission know your thoughts: https://www.ncpc.gov/initiatives/pennave/

• Get involved in public history on a deeper level. Attend the DC History Conference this May. I have been before and it a is a blast!: https://conference.dchistory.org/

• Make your own art or display of public history.

What are other ideas?

Mammoth: Exhibition Spotlight

Nick Cave achieved the double of at once overwhelming me and at the same time, stoking my desire to engage further. In a way, this exhibition lived up to the title. Mammoth likely hits you differently depending on how much you know about Nick Cave's art and life. I went in not knowing more than this exhibition had been recommended to me multiple times by multiple people from different parts of my life, and having read reviews from a few national publications. I might now know him a little more having seen and absorbed this work.

Having this exhibition's main draw (the light table) hosted in a huge open gallery space featuring ethereal lighting, with narrow exits at each end, led me to do what I believe many visitors will; spend a lot of time looking down at the plethora of objects presented on the life-sized light box, perhaps at the expense of the other parts of the exhibition.

To think of the objects on the light box as detritus would mask the value in looking at everyday objects in this way. The exhibition is as much an examination of life at a moment in time as it is a collection of what makes us, us, over the course of an entire lifetime. Or in this case what made Nick Cave, Nick Cave. Toys, tools, textiles, and more -- the light table has it all. The overwhelming part is that there is just too much to observe in a single passing. The desire to engage more is partially fed by the slight chaos. Curiosity gives way to engagement. And questions. Who owned this one? Was that passed down through the family? What is it, exactly?

All the while, the massive mammoth bone structures watch from atop lifeguard-like platforms. Are they judging us for leering? Are they benevolent overseers of the cosmos? Are they watching for mistakes or learning? With consternation or pride?

While the light box is engrossing, the two pieces near the entrance of the exhibition are as powerful. First, a moving image short film of the titular mammoths (people adorned as mammoths) walking/wandering though what appears to be the Chicago landscape.

And in what was the most intriguing and slightly disconcerting piece, Amalgam (Plot). Two prone bodies meet on the floor, faces obscured. How did they get there? How long have they been there? Almost presented as another part of the body, flowers rise up along the edges of the prone figures and from the meeting of the two figures. This reminded me of one of the scenes from a dystopian movie where the survivors walk aimlessly among the ruins of a great catastrophe, occasionally coming across a body in the wild. A dark interpretation -- but the door is seemingly left open for rosier thoughts.

Overall, I was really taken with Mammoth. I was prepared to walk in with an open mind., and even then was surprised by the depth and presentation. Sometimes I have trouble connecting to "found art" style exhibitions. I did not write up the Material Witness exhibition showing at Rubell Museum, but perhaps I will. It was chaotic in a different way than Mammoth, but they both share few thematic links. Until then, Mammoth is worth a view! It has plenty of time to breathe, showing at the Smithsonian American Art Museum January 3, 2027.

Youth Movement: Honoring Diamond Teague and Monique Johnson

This month, I am highlighting commemorative works in DC that feature youth. The physical form of commemoration needs not be a statue, although many are. I'm looking to see if a young person is included as part of the commemorative narrative, or that a young person is central to the story of commemoration.

Old pump house converted into a learning center.

Let’s start next to the Anacostia River in Southeast DC, looking at a different type of commemoration. This place honors a young man and a young woman, both who served DC residents by improving the natural environment. Unfortunately, each of their lives was cut short by acts of violence.

On the Anacostia River, the Earth Conservation Corps has had a substantial impact on the health and appearance of the Anacostia River, as well as on the people who work to improve it. The ECC is an AmeriCorps adjacent program that engages DC teens in environmental service projects, almost exclusively centered on rehabilitating the Anacostia River. The Anacostia River intersects with the Potomac River after branching through Prince George's County, Maryland and the eastern part of the District of Columbia. The ECC was technically founded in the late 1980s, but since 1994, it has inhabited an old restored pump house that juts out into the Anacostia River. The pump house is just south of the Navy Yard complex and almost in the shadow of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge.

After making the pump house home in 1994, the ECC has seen tremendous change in the built environment around it over the next 25 years. Dozens of new residential and commercial buildings have risen around the pump house, including adjacent apartment and office buildings as well as the Nationals Park baseball stadium. All the while, hundreds of DC youth have worked on the river, learning about, cleaning, monitoring, and improving the Anacostia little by little. With the work of ECC teens alongside infrastructure and policy advances related to cleaning up the river, we’re at the point that development is now ongoing on both sides of the riverfront. This particular segment of the Anacostia River has become a residential, commercial, and green space destination for area residents.

Diamond Teague Park on the Anacostia River.

In between the ECC pump house learning center and the baseball stadium sits Diamond Teague Park. The park was dedicated in 2009 to honor Diamond Teague. Diamond was a teen who grew up in DC and worked in the ECC cleaning up the Anacostia River. Specifically, he worked a seven month program helping to bring the bald eagle, sturgeon fish, and the barn owl back to the river shed. In October 2003 a still unknown person shot Diamond on the front porch of his own home. Diamond died at age 19 years. He was known as one of the hardest working members in the corps and a friend to all. After graduation from the corps, Diamond was set to attend the University of the District of Columbia where he had just been accepted. He would have been attending with a scholarship achieved through his work on the Anacostia River during his ECC AmeriCorps service. Corp members and staff grieved after his death as Diamond's passing seemed to go unnoticed by the city and underreported by the media. It was the student media at the ECC who produced a video tribute shown at Diamond's memorial service. The day after the memorial service the mayor visited with Diamond's mother and ECC members.

Five years later, a Major League Baseball Park was built across from the ECC pump house, supercharging development around the area. Six years later, in 2009, then DC Mayor Adrian Fenty spoke at the groundbreaking of a new 1 acre park that was officially dedicated to Diamond Teague. Diamond Teague Park includes a new approach to the riverside and the ECC learning center, direct access to the river with a new boat landing, piers for water taxi and kayak access, and acts as a connector between two residential areas along the much improved Anacostia River. A river Diamond himself helped to rehabilitate. The park also incudes a tiled memorial sculpture to Diamond by artist G. Byron Peck, although it has fallen into some disrepair. The area around the park has seen incredible change over the past 15 years, but the commemoration for Diamond Teague remains. There are plans to enhance and enlarge the park with new features and landscaping, but that is tied to future real estate development on the waterfront. More recently, there has been a proposal to restore, preserve, and protect the memorial sculpture to Diamond specifically.

Diamond Teague memorial by artist G. Byron Peck.

Most tiles are missing from the top side.

At the end of Diamond Teague Park is the aforementioned, repurposed pump house. Now renovated and used for programming by the ECC, the pump house is named to honor Monique Johnson, one of the founding Earth Conservation Corps members here in DC. By 1992, Monique had transitioned into a leadership role as a young adult and was on an environmental rehab trip in Texas when a Houston man took killed her just days after her arrival. The Earth Conservation Corp group was there ostensibly to help clean up a local bayou, but primarily to be honored by then President Bush as participants in the Thousand Points of Light community service initiative. It was a celebration that did not happen. Monique was lost to us as she was exporting the challenging but important work on DC’s natural environment all the way to better another community in Texas. Yet, violence followed.

Two years later, the old pump house gained a new life as a learning center as well as a new name, the Monique Johnson River Center. Monique was one of the inspired young leaders who helped make that part of the river inhabitable for the Corps as well as all the development that continues through today. ECC members did eventually get to visit the White House in 1999 as invited by then President Clinton and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt.

Monique Johnson River Center.

Naming buildings and places after people is not new, of course. Place names can be purchased via sponsorship, or as an acknowledgment of philanthropy. We honor people foundational to institutions, or people who are widely admired. Sometimes it's a combination of reasons.

Diamond Teague and Monique Johnson were both foundational to advancing the mission of the ECC, but they also did so in this exact place within the District of Columbia, in service to the people — and flora & fauna— of the District of Columbia. These commemorations are multi-faceted; 1) to remember Diamond and Monique as people, 2) honor their contributions to the organization, and 3) through those contributions, honor their service to the community at large.

Over the past years, the Corps has lost many participants to violence. For anyone enjoying a walk on the rehabilitated riverfront or enjoyed looking over blue heron, turtles, and ducks on the river after a baseball game, much is owed to these teens, young adults, and their educators at ECC. The built and natural environments should not be separated from the human experiences of people who live amongst them. Being able to enjoy the river is important, but so is mitigating the violence that has interrupted so many lives in the city.

Hopefully people encountering Diamond Teague Park and Monique Johnson River Center take a moment to reflect on these commemorations, who the people behind the namesakes were, and how they helped make DC a better place.

Questions I still have:

What do you think about a public nature park as a form of commemoration? What about naming a building after someone?

How do we best honor work that is often unseen like cleaning parts of a creek many will never encounter or improving animal habitats deep into a forest?

How do we reconcile our want to honor the work of people like Diamond and Monique in such a public way only, but only after their deaths?

In what ways can we ensure the next generation are able to access and remain engaged in these types of commemorations?

Learn more:

Read more about the Earth Conservation Corps.
See videos from the dedication of Diamond Teague Park.
ECC Monique Johnson River Center.
2007 interview with a founder of the DC ECC.
2017 write up of the ECC.
Endangered Species, a 2004 documentary on early years of the ECC and the lives of its corps members. Moving, raw, and essential viewing for recent DC history.

Shoreline of Diamond Teague Park on the Anacostia River. The baseball stadium is not far away.

Diamond Teague Park.

Walkway down to floating pier next to the park.

Riverwalk boardwalk leading up to the park.

If you appreciate these examinations of commemoration across the DC memorial landscape, please consider supporting my work on Patreon. There we continue to look at the history, present, and future of commemoration in DC.