Voices from the Past | Voices from the Present

Public Programs

Voices from the Past | Voices from the Present

Presented by YBCA and Artadia |

January 14, 2023, 2 PM

A public workshop on reproductive justice as part of Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System? in partnership with Artadia.

Join artists and recent Artadia awardees Alex Strada and Tali Keren to celebrate Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System?, on view at YBCA through March 19, 2023. This participatory exhibition asks visitors to critically engage with the U.S. Constitution, the document’s legacy, and the embedded issues of structural racism, settler-colonial violence, heteropatriarchy, and the absence of reproductive and climate justice, through an evolving oral archive and videos featuring legal scholars.

On January 14, 2023, from 2–3:30pm, UC Berkeley Professor of Law Khiara M. Bridges will discuss the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade. She will explore the role of originalism—interpreting the U.S. Constitution based on the original understanding at the time it was adopted—in the Court’s decision, explaining how originalism privileges the voices of the few who held power centuries ago, while silencing people who live today.

A celebratory reception with drinks and light bites—during which visitors can explore the exhibition and contribute their own voices to the project’s ongoing oral archive via sonic soapboxes—will follow the program.

YBCA Galleries

Khiara Bridges stands against a white background.

Khiara M. Bridges

Khiara M. Bridges is a professor of law at UC Berkeley School of Law. She has written many articles concerning race, class, reproductive rights, and the intersection of the three. Her scholarship has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, California Law Review, NYU Law Review, and Virginia Law Review, among others. She is also the author of three books: Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization (2011), The Poverty of Privacy Rights (2017), and Critical Race Theory: A Primer (2019). She is a co-editor of a reproductive justice book series that is published under the imprint of the University of California Press.

Alex Strada & Tali Keren

Alex Strada (she/hers) and Tali Keren (she/hers) are NYC-based artists and educators who have been collaborating together since 2016. Their projects have been shown at the Queens Museum, NY; Anthology Film Archives, NY; Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Goethe-Institut, NY; Museum of Moving Image, NY; MuseumsQuartier, Vienna, Austria; Kaunas Biennial, Kaunas, Lithuania; and on the screens of Times Square with Times Square Arts’ Midnight Moment.

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Artadia is a nonprofit grantmaker and nationwide community of visual artists, curators, and patrons. Since its founding in 1999, Artadia has awarded over $6 million in unrestricted funds to over 370 artists. Celebrating visual artists and their foundational role in shaping society, the Artadia Award benefits three artists annually in seven major US cities with high concentrations of creative workers—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Artadia Award is designed to provide essential funding to artists at pivotal points in their careers, strengthen their communities, and spur new levels of career achievement through a proven combination of recognition, grantmaking, community support, and advocacy. Artadia annually awards unrestricted grants directly to artists through a curator-driven process. Beyond the grant, the Award includes lifelong access to a community of fellow artists and patrons. In addition to receiving grant funds, Artadia Awardees become part of the Artadia Network, which offers an innovative platform to unite artists with our devoted network of professionals ranging from curators and fellow artists to legal and financial experts. Through workshops and one-on-one meetings, Artadia Network provides Awardees with a forum for structured resource sharing, opportunities for new connections, and access to practice-based solutions.

Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System? is organized for YBCA by Martin Strickland, Director of Curatorial Projects & Public Experience; Amy Kisch, Chief Producer; and Fiona Ball, Manager of Curatorial Projects & Public Experience.

Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System? is an iterative installation and will take on many forms at many institutions. It originated at the Queens Museum and was first on view October 2, 2021 – February 13th, 2022. YBCA is grateful for the work they put into the installation and the programming.

YBCA Programs are made possible in part by MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, California Arts Council, #StartSmall, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Tambourine, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Marilyn Conrad Trust, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, William G. Irwin Charity Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The Bernard Osher Foundation, In memory of Kevin King,The Sato Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Gaia Fund, and YBCA Members.

Generous support provided by Blue Shield of California. Blue Shield of California is an independent member of the Blue Shield Association.

YBCA is grateful to the City of San Francisco for its ongoing support.