Exhibitions & Galleries

Can looking closely at photographs change what we see, know, and feel about this history? Japanese artist Masaki Fujihata explores this very question in BeHere / 1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration. Through immersive installations of historic images and augmented reality (AR) experiences, the exhibition brings visitors into the moments of 1942—before Japanese Americans in Oakland, San Francisco, and Los Angeles were transported to concentration camps during World War II.

Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory is the first major museum exhibition to celebrate the work of beloved Bay Area artist Mildred Howard. Spanning Howard’s five-decade practice, Poetics of Memory brings together her renowned collages, found-object sculptures, and immersive installations that explore memory, identity, and the African American experience. New and never-before-seen pieces punctuate the exhibition, while archival materials from Howard’s Oakland studio illuminate the cultural currents and lived experiences that shape her practice.

This selection of new additions to the OMCA collection highlights the art and culture of the moment and illuminates history in the making. The works in the installation are the result of OMCA’s new collecting process that seeks to respond to timely issues that impact the communities of Oakland and California. Representing a move away from more traditional museum collecting priorities, Collecting the Moment shows some of the ways we center our institutional relationships with diverse community groups and voices. This ongoing and changing installation will reveal some of the many ways California artists, activists, and others claim cultural space, question societal norms, gain power, and engage the larger questions of our time.

Fairyland’s rich history is highlighted this spring at the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) in an installation titled Fairyland @ 75: A Legacy of Magic. Opening April 4, 2025, alongside the seasonal return of Friday Nights at OMCA, the installation invites visitors to learn more about Fairyland’s history, evolution, and enduring magic. 

We all use maps in our everyday lives—to navigate public transportation, find places to eat, and visualize big data like weather patterns or political opinions. But have you ever considered the deeper stories maps tell us?

Uncover the history of the Black Power movements in California with a compelling addition to the Gallery of California History. In response to the widely-popular 2016 exhibition All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50, this installation illustrates the creative ways Black anti-racist activists in California supported their communities and challenged the U.S. government.

Radical Blooms: The Unexpected Power of Flowers draws on the OMCA’s interdisciplinary collection to reveal flowers as potent symbols of beauty and expression as well as resistance, healing, and connection. Through artworks, clothing, posters, furniture, and photographs, the exhibition explores how flowers have shaped California’s political, social, environmental, and cultural histories. Reflecting stories of ecological exchange, ritual, protest, and a reminder of life’s fleeting nature, Radical Blooms uplifts flowers as an expression of California’s signature creativity, hope, and radical spirit.

Stephanie Syjuco: After/Images explores how photographs and archives shape our understanding of history, power, and belonging. Oakland artist Stephanie Syjuco engages with and manipulates photographs and objects from US institutional archives, making visible the tools and choices behind image-making.

Through cutting, layering, pixelating, crumpling, and rephotographing, she “talks back” to the archive, repurposing its tools to care for and return agency to the people represented within it. Throughout the exhibition, chromakey green, staged photographs, props, mannequins, and video installations transform OMCA’s Great Hall into a dynamic space where image-making unfolds. Visitors are invited to look closely, question what they see, and consider how images can be reshaped to tell more complete stories of the past.