Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain

Opening July 18 | Great Hall

July 18, 2025—Sunday, February 1, 2026

Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain navigates the braided histories of displacement, resistance, and resilience within Black American communities in Oakland and the East Bay. Through new commissions in art, architecture, and archival research, the exhibition traces how these communities have creatively resisted dispossession and reimagined spaces of home and belonging.

Drawing inspiration from the legacies of West Oakland and Russell City, Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain pulls both from the OMCA permanent collection and newly commissioned works by artist Adrian Burrell, architect June Grant, and the Archive of Urban Futures at UC Berkeley. These works reflect the ongoing struggle and success in reclaiming and reshaping self-determined spaces in the face of systemic violence, erasure, and urban renewal.

Developed in collaboration with East Bay residents affected by displacement, Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain invites reflection on the intersection of activism, memory, and the materiality of home. It is a meditation on how Black American communities, in spite of ongoing systemic oppression, conjure wells of creativity and resistance that carve out places to hold their histories and futures.

Want to see it free? Members get unlimited admission to special exhibitions and galleries. Learn more about membership.

Highlights

[Map of West Oakland, 1968] Medium Courtesy of Segregation by Design
[Map of West Oakland, 1968]
Courtesy of Segregation by Design
Michelle Vignes Kenny Playing Sax at the De Luxe Inn in Oakland 1983 Gelatin silver print OMCA
Michelle Vignes, Kenny Playing Sax at the De Luxe Inn in Oakland, 1983, Gelatin silver print, OMCA
Marion ColemanCountry Club NightsCirca 2015TextileHayward Area Historical Society
Marion Coleman, Country Club Nights, Circa 2015, Textile, Hayward Area Historical Society
Michelle Vignes, Having a Good Time at Eli Mile High Club in Oakland, 1983, Gelatin silver print, OMCA
Michelle Vignes, Having a Good Time at Eli Mile High Club in Oakland, 1983, Gelatin silver print, OMCA
Marion Coleman Homes On Fire2014TextileHayward Area Historical Society
Marion Coleman, Homes On Fire, 2014, Textile, Hayward Area Historical Society
[A tank prepares to attack first house in new post office site clearance plan], 1960, Gelatin silver print, The Oakland Tribune Collection, the Oakland Museum of California. Gift of ANG Newspapers.
Marion ColemanReunion: We Shall Always RememberCirca 2015TextileHayward Area Historical Society
Marion Coleman, Reunion: We Shall Always Remember, Circa 2015, Textile, Hayward Area Historical Society
[Children playing volleyball on a dirt playground at Russell School] Circa 1950 Gelatin silver print Courtesy of Hayward Area Historical Society
[Children playing volleyball on a dirt playground at Russell School], Circa 1950, Gelatin silver print, Courtesy of Hayward Area Historical Society
Untitled (Key system care running through Seventh Street) 1948Reproduction Courtesy of Western Railway Museum
Untitled (Key system car running through Seventh Street), 1948, Reproduction Courtesy of Western Railway Museum

Sponsors

Major support for Black Spaces: Reclaim & Remain is provided by The Oakland Museum Women’s Board.

*Header image: Michelle Vignes, Having a Good Time at Eli Mile High Club in Oakland, 1983, Gelatin silver print, OMCA