Demetri Broxton on Ancestry, Memory, and Material Language at MoAD

Oakland-based artist Demetri Broxton discusses his exhibition 'Ancestral Echoes' at the Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco, on view until 16 August 2026. The show explores ancestry, memory, and belonging through beadwork, portraiture, and ritual objects. Broxton uses archival photographs, African diasporic spiritual traditions, and materials like cowrie shells, tobacco, rice, and cotton to honor ancestors whose stories are incomplete. He emphasizes intuition over reconstruction, creating symbolic environments where past and present converge. The work is influenced by his Louisiana Creole and Filipino heritage, Yoruba cosmology, and family photographs. Broxton views the handmade process as an act of devotion, transforming information into relationships. The exhibition includes an altar and works such as 'He Who Holds Me to the Soil…'.