AfroPortals Project Space & Archive
Through a regenerative, tiered structure, the AfroPortals Project Space & Archive (AfroPortals) fosters resiliency and builds power in communities deeply affected by racialized trauma and state-sanctioned violence by supporting the current cultural environment with the physical presence of a resource portal.
This interdisciplinary site-specific prototype is trauma-and-joy-informed, and centers culturally resuscitative efforts led by Black artists, curators, archivists, culture-keepers and others whose creative labor saves lives. AfroPortals anchors our vision of a just community by creating an environment where BIPOC arts laborers and educators are protected, honored and fully invested in.
Lead Curator: Ashara Ekundayo
The AfroPortals is a collaboration pilot project of Artist As First Responder, the East Oakland Black Cultural Zone CDC and Eastside Arts Alliance funded by Mellon Foundation and the Wallace Foundation.
Deep East Inspirations: Affirmations Campaign
Your home is part of the story of East Oakland. Whether your family has been here for generations or you are building your life here for decades.
Deep East Inspiration: Affirmations invite Black residents across Deep East Oakland to place artist-designed signs at their homes as a visible affirmation of Black presence, legacy, and belonging. Each sign is a way to claim your place in the neighborhood and make visible the people, families, and histories that shape it.
Together, these signs create a collective presence across Deep East Oakland, reminding our neighbors and ourselves that Black people are here, we belong here, and we are part of East Oakland’s past, present, and future.
If you’re a part of a Black legacy family in Deep East Oakland and would like an affirmation sign in your yard, you can pick one up in person from our Manager of Memory and Refusal, Lyn Patterson at the Levitt Vibe Concert Series on September 12th and September 26th; or Art + Soul Fridays on September 18th (5-7pm) at Sankofa Sanctuary.
Want a sign for your yard?
Shared Studios
PORTALS
Engaging the intersections of art, identity and activism around the world!
The AfroPortals Project Space & Archive is proud to host a partnership with Shared_Studios to bring together communities around the globe for transformative conversations as if in the same room.
Housed alongside AfroPortals, Shared_Studios explores the power of art, arts activism, its influence across the continent and throughout the Black African Diaspora.