Special Guest Gallery Chat: Inside Black Spaces

Special Guest Gallery Chat: Inside Black Spaces

6—6:30 pm Black Spaces Pop-up talk in Oak Street Plaza | Free and Open to the Public

6:30—7 pm Black Spaces exhibition walkthrough | Gallery Admission

In celebration of Nexus: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week 2025, organized by MoAD, OMCA invites you to a special walkthrough and panel discussion during Friday Nights at OMCA. Starting in Oak Street Plaza and continuing into the exhibition Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain, this engaging Gallery Chats experience brings together curator Dania Talley, architect June Grant (blinkLAB architecture), and activist Dominique Walker (Moms 4 Housing) to explore the making of the exhibition and urgent themes of housing justice, displacement, and Black community resilience in the East Bay and beyond.

Complementing the evening, Friday Nights at OMCA offers hands-on family art activities inspired by Black Spaces and community storytelling, plus vibrant performances across the Museum campus. On the Garden Stage, The Futurelics deliver a genre-defying live set blending funk, blues, jazz, house, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms. Over in the Amphitheater, Young Ellabaker brings high energy to the decks with a genre-blending DJ set that keeps the dance floor open to all.

Join us for an evening of movement, music, dialogue, and connection—rooted in Black creativity, cultural legacy, and collective imagination.

Panelist Bios

Dania Talley  is an experienced archaeologist with a Master of Arts in Historical Archaeology from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from the University of Nevada, Reno. Her professional background includes extensive work in collections management and public history, with a particular emphasis on African American and Native American cultural heritage. As the Associate Curator of History at the Oakland Museum of California, Talley leads the development of exhibition concepts and gallery installations, oversees the stewardship of cultural collections, and engages with community partners, including the Museum’s Native Advisory Council. She plays a central role in research, documentation, and advancing inclusive, community-centered curatorial strategies. Talley is the lead curator of OMCA’s special exhibition, Black Spaces:Reclaim & Remain.

June Grant  received her Masters degree in Architecture from the Yale School of Architecture. In addition to Architecture, her background includes Sculpture, Investment Analysis and Economics. Upon leaving Steinberg Architects and AECOM, where she was a Principal and Associate Principal, respectively, she launched blink!LAB in 2014. Her architecture follows a trajectory from Retail to Culture and Technology markets. She is an architect with a long interest in innovation of spaces for newly emerging social patterns. 

Dominique Walker is a mother and the Co-Founder & Lead Organizer, Moms4Housing. In high school she co-founded and graduated from the School of Social Justice and Community Development. She went on to earn her B.A. degree in Sociology from Tougaloo College and supervised the lactation program at Jackson Hinds Comprehensive Health Center in Jackson, MS. Despite working full-time, Walker experienced homelessness. Alongside other Black mothers, she co-founded Moms for Housing (M4H) — a group of mothers fighting for housing to call attention to the alarming number of unhoused families in Oakland while hundreds of corporate-owned homes sat vacant. Together, they sparked a movement to reclaim housing for the people. Walker is currently on the Board of Directors for M4H. She is an active member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) black housing union. She is the educator of community organizing for the Deep Medicine Circle (DMC), a WOC-led, worker-directed nonprofit organization that is committed to heal the wounds of colonialism through food, medicine, restoration, story and learning. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Pre-Medical Science and also serves as Vice-Chair of the Berkeley Rent Board, while continuing to organize with M4H through advocacy, service, and policy to affirm that housing is a human right.

Accessibility

Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is committed to providing programs that are accessible, welcoming, and inclusive of our community. Wheelchairs, sensory inclusive devices, and additional amenities are available for checkout on a first come, first served basis at the Ticketing Desk. To request other accommodations, like American Sign Language (ASL), Cantonese, Spanish or another language interpreter, please email [email protected] at least three weeks before the event. Learn more about our accessibility options.