News

By Chris Gardner

The Westwood institution has zeroed in on veteran TV creator Darren Star and notable artist Betye Saar as honorees for the 21st annual Gala in the Garden, set to take place on May 2. The event, Hammer’s largest fundraiser, “honors artists and innovators who have made profound contributions to society through their work,” per the museum. It does so in front of local artists, collectors, patrons, celebrities and other art world insiders.

Roberts Projects is pleased to announce its representation of Esmaa Mohamoud. This announcement follows the gallery’s first solo exhibition with the artist in 2025, What Does Webster’s Say About Soul?

Known for her conceptual practice that incorporates familiar objects and symbols from Black visual culture—including football equipment, peacock chairs, lowriders, butterflies and shea butter—Mohamoud reimagines her source materials by transforming their scale and layering cultural references to recontextualize their conventional meaning.

Amid the turbulent decades of the mid-20th century, African American and Afro-Atlantic diaspora artists sought to celebrate Black culture and advance the struggle for civil rights. Photographic images contributed in myriad ways to the lively exchange of pan-African ideas that propelled the Black Arts Movement. See how an incredible range of artists and activists—from studio and street photographers to graphic designers and community organizers—used photography as a tool for social change.

Remixing transforms the familiar into something new. In the recording studio, music producers layer tracks, shift tempos, and sample old melodies, creating fresh soundscapes with the echoes of the past. Remixed: Entwined Histories and New Forms explores this sonic alchemy as a conceptual, visual strategy in art that “remixes” both physical objects and immaterial legacies.