(Photo by Roslyn Yeager)
On July 18th, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) featured YR Media artists, and their contributions to the “Suzanne Lacy: We Are Here” exhibit, in their monthly Third Thursday event. Visitors browsed the gallery while being treated to specially curated sets by YR Media-trained DJs and musicians Marcel Angelo, DJ Edel and Clay Xavier. YCBA hosted an intimate artist panel featuring producer and renaissance woman Jessica “Money Maka” Brown, and visual artist Rami KD. The two discussed their artwork, inspirations and how they started creating. The event was part of a larger legacy exhibit co-housed by YBCA and SF MOMA displaying the work of artists and activist Suzanne Lacy.
The YBCA collab was special to me because I felt like it was my first big break. I’ve never been featured in a museum before. It made me feel kinda bougie — because who you know that’s 19 years old and in a museum in the Bay? It felt like I got a head start, you know? Something I can put on my resume, I appreciate YR Media for the alley-oop. Working on the exhibit was a rewarding experience, we had to think outside the box, then after about an hour of goofing off, we got the ball rolling and started wheat pasting posters in a cool way. I didn’t mind spending my Saturday working on the exhibit. The artist talk was the most entertaining part of the whole event because I just had to talk. You know, usually, people get nervous but I’m always ready to tell people about myself. Maybe that’s just the Leo in me (#LeoGang). Also, people always tell me I’m a character, but I’m just myself and that’s how I approached the artist talk. It came so naturally and I was able to make the crowd laugh, so I feel like I fulfilled my duty. I think the full designer fit helped as well as the coke white Air Forces, they give that little oomph to my persona. – Jessica “Money Maka” Brown
It felt good being a part of something unique. Being able to tell our perspective through music and graphic design was a very great experience for me. It felt good contributing to this group project because we were able to become closer as a community. This project allowed us to tell our stories to other communities as well and cover issues that others may not take as seriously as we do. Overall, I had fun being apart of this project, youth in the Bay Area don’t usually have outlets like the one YBCA have given us. They gave us a platform to utilize our voice and an empty canvas to paint our stories. Thanks, YBCA, for letting us be part of this project. – DJ Edel
