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the west oakland matters ART GALLERY
WEST FEST, in 2026, identifies itself through paying homage to the rich legacy of Oakland's original artistry that powered community consciousness and will. Swipe through the images that helped us bring you here for the third anniversary of our event.
Artist:
Aeosone: @aeosone
DeVante Brooks a.k.a. Aeos One (pronounced A-yos), is a calligrapher, sign painter and muralist born, raised, and residing in Oakland, CA. His background as a style writer (“graffiti artist”) set the framework for dedicated practice, consistent refinement and taking no shortcuts in the creative process. His craftsman-like approach is rooted in the notion of being able to create impactful and tangible works with his own two hands and keeping the dying arts alive – hand-painted signage, pinstriping, airbrushed clothing, and upcycled sculptures, to name a few.
Aeosone: @aeosone
DeVante Brooks a.k.a. Aeos One (pronounced A-yos), is a calligrapher, sign painter and muralist born, raised, and residing in Oakland, CA. His background as a style writer (“graffiti artist”) set the framework for dedicated practice, consistent refinement and taking no shortcuts in the creative process. His craftsman-like approach is rooted in the notion of being able to create impactful and tangible works with his own two hands and keeping the dying arts alive – hand-painted signage, pinstriping, airbrushed clothing, and upcycled sculptures, to name a few.
Artist:
Cairo: @pullman_studios
Cairo is a coastal mixed media painter and collagist from Oakland CA. Cairo upcycles, both discarded materials found on the quiet corners of the urban landscape and naturally occurring materials from the seashore to bring his creative imaginings to light. Blending techniques found in the school of color painting and his own refined collage practice, Cairo weaves textural dreamscapes that keep one's eyes on a journey of discovery finding more and more with every washing glance.
"Have fun and always do your best work"
Cairo McCockran / Pullman Studios
Cairo: @pullman_studios
Cairo is a coastal mixed media painter and collagist from Oakland CA. Cairo upcycles, both discarded materials found on the quiet corners of the urban landscape and naturally occurring materials from the seashore to bring his creative imaginings to light. Blending techniques found in the school of color painting and his own refined collage practice, Cairo weaves textural dreamscapes that keep one's eyes on a journey of discovery finding more and more with every washing glance.
"Have fun and always do your best work"
Cairo McCockran / Pullman Studios
Artist:
Chamia La Rae
@justchamia
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Chamia is a multi-disciplinary artist who is the creator of the series The Just Chamia Show, author of Dear Love: A Collection of Love Letters Written to Love, and founder of #dearlovethemovement.
Chamia is most passionate about people and regularly serves her community through charitable contributions, volunteering and service to the most vulnerable. She also facilitates self-love and women’s empowerment workshops.
Chamia is the President & CEO of Chamia LaRae, LLC, an Oakland, California based media company offering content and consulting.
Chamia La Rae
@justchamia
A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Chamia is a multi-disciplinary artist who is the creator of the series The Just Chamia Show, author of Dear Love: A Collection of Love Letters Written to Love, and founder of #dearlovethemovement.
Chamia is most passionate about people and regularly serves her community through charitable contributions, volunteering and service to the most vulnerable. She also facilitates self-love and women’s empowerment workshops.
Chamia is the President & CEO of Chamia LaRae, LLC, an Oakland, California based media company offering content and consulting.
Artist:
Jeff Jr.
@hisartpage
Jeff Brown Jr. is a California-based multidisciplinary artist. His work blends intuition and spontaneity, using a range of mediums and design influences to create introspective, one-of-a-kind pieces. Guided by mindfulness rather than rules, Jeff approaches each artwork as an open-ended journey of expression.
Jeff Jr.
@hisartpage
Jeff Brown Jr. is a California-based multidisciplinary artist. His work blends intuition and spontaneity, using a range of mediums and design influences to create introspective, one-of-a-kind pieces. Guided by mindfulness rather than rules, Jeff approaches each artwork as an open-ended journey of expression.
Artist:
Jimi Evins
@mindsplash
Jimi is director and curator of Studio/Gallery 1508 on Eighth Street. An artist, educator, and long-time community activist, he promotes art-making in all mediums, exhibiting local artists with a history of creating serious work, and offering the community art-making/healing. Jimi believes that without embracing our history, not only in America but throughout the Diaspora, we will continue to experience the scourge of racism. He promotes sanctuary where we rebuild, question, exhaust, embrace, educate, and celebrate who we are as a people.
Jimi Evins
@mindsplash
Jimi is director and curator of Studio/Gallery 1508 on Eighth Street. An artist, educator, and long-time community activist, he promotes art-making in all mediums, exhibiting local artists with a history of creating serious work, and offering the community art-making/healing. Jimi believes that without embracing our history, not only in America but throughout the Diaspora, we will continue to experience the scourge of racism. He promotes sanctuary where we rebuild, question, exhaust, embrace, educate, and celebrate who we are as a people.
Artist:
Ash aka LA Vega
@zomby_v
Ash aka LA Vega
@zomby_v
Artist:
Leon Kennedy: @leonkennedyfolkartist_official
Leon Kennedy is a distinguished self-taught artist. A native of Houston, Texas, Kennedy has lived and worked in Oakland, California for over 25 years. He captures and paints the people and scenes of Bay Area life. Kennedy paints on “everything” including bedsheets, wood, tables, chairs, glass, and metal. He creates his artworks with markers, paints, crayons, beads, glitter, cotton, yarn, and rope.
Leon Kennedy is inspired by the Spirit. His trademark is the hand. “Hands symbolize my personal testimony. Hands stand for the power of the imagination and for divine testimony. God is the door . . . Prayer is the key. God sees my heart. He has the master plan; I am his obedient servant. Faith leads. I follow Him.”
“As a child, I knew that art was my vocation. My artwork is an affirmation of faith, love, and charity in my life. These virtues are what we need most in our community. I
My paintings are visions that are God-given. When I draw faces I emphasize the eyes. Through the eyes, you see and feel something—glimpse the soul.
Leon Kennedy: @leonkennedyfolkartist_official
Leon Kennedy is a distinguished self-taught artist. A native of Houston, Texas, Kennedy has lived and worked in Oakland, California for over 25 years. He captures and paints the people and scenes of Bay Area life. Kennedy paints on “everything” including bedsheets, wood, tables, chairs, glass, and metal. He creates his artworks with markers, paints, crayons, beads, glitter, cotton, yarn, and rope.
Leon Kennedy is inspired by the Spirit. His trademark is the hand. “Hands symbolize my personal testimony. Hands stand for the power of the imagination and for divine testimony. God is the door . . . Prayer is the key. God sees my heart. He has the master plan; I am his obedient servant. Faith leads. I follow Him.”
“As a child, I knew that art was my vocation. My artwork is an affirmation of faith, love, and charity in my life. These virtues are what we need most in our community. I
My paintings are visions that are God-given. When I draw faces I emphasize the eyes. Through the eyes, you see and feel something—glimpse the soul.
Artist:
Reon English: @reon_jarreau
Artist, curator, fabricator.
A creative kind of fellow with #Locs for a Crown
"Spray paint not Bullets."
Reon English: @reon_jarreau
Artist, curator, fabricator.
A creative kind of fellow with #Locs for a Crown
"Spray paint not Bullets."
Artist:
Simone Nia Rae: @simoneniarae
Simone Nia Rae is an abstract fine artist that takes the power of bravery and vulnerability and transforms it into a visual novel. She works with all mediums from acrylic on canvasses to up cycling materials to enhance the life of her pieces. She is dedicated to using her art to serve her community through therapeutic Art sessions and free community events where her creativity is further enhanced. Her artwork displays her love for bold colors and textures to express the feeling of her work.
Simone Nia Rae: @simoneniarae
Simone Nia Rae is an abstract fine artist that takes the power of bravery and vulnerability and transforms it into a visual novel. She works with all mediums from acrylic on canvasses to up cycling materials to enhance the life of her pieces. She is dedicated to using her art to serve her community through therapeutic Art sessions and free community events where her creativity is further enhanced. Her artwork displays her love for bold colors and textures to express the feeling of her work.
Artist:
The Arthur Wright: @thearthurw
My career has given me a lot of interesting things to do, including a call to Hollywood, short-lived however, and then becoming a board member of the Artship, a renovated ship of war that became a seaborne arts venue in Oakland that was discontinued in 2004. My first internet sale in 1997 was to a person from South Africa and one of the most recent to a Swedish representative of the Carnaval, a huge and sprawling global celebration that deals intensively with the peoples of the African Diaspora. For the 2003 Carnaval in San Francisco my bleach rendering of ‘Califia, Queen of California’ was chosen as the poster cover for that event. I have since been shown and honored in various schools and colleges such as Stanford, UCLA, Sonoma State and Santa Rosa JC and a much longer and growing list. The introduction of bleach into my art has been a huge catalyst and in it I find enough nuances to explore to take me the rest of the way. At present I am on the board of directors for Prescott-Joseph, a non-profit community organization located here in Oakland, California.
The Arthur Wright: @thearthurw
My career has given me a lot of interesting things to do, including a call to Hollywood, short-lived however, and then becoming a board member of the Artship, a renovated ship of war that became a seaborne arts venue in Oakland that was discontinued in 2004. My first internet sale in 1997 was to a person from South Africa and one of the most recent to a Swedish representative of the Carnaval, a huge and sprawling global celebration that deals intensively with the peoples of the African Diaspora. For the 2003 Carnaval in San Francisco my bleach rendering of ‘Califia, Queen of California’ was chosen as the poster cover for that event. I have since been shown and honored in various schools and colleges such as Stanford, UCLA, Sonoma State and Santa Rosa JC and a much longer and growing list. The introduction of bleach into my art has been a huge catalyst and in it I find enough nuances to explore to take me the rest of the way. At present I am on the board of directors for Prescott-Joseph, a non-profit community organization located here in Oakland, California.
Artist:
Ken Light
@kenlight_photo
Ken has worked as a documentary photographer focusing on social issues for more than fifty years. He began photographing in West Oakland upon his arrival in California, in 1974.
Ken teaches photojournalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others, including the Dorothea Lange Fellowship. His work has been published in twelve monographs and presented in more than 230 exhibitions worldwide, including one-person shows at the Oakland Museum of California and the International Center for Photography in New York City.
Ken Light
@kenlight_photo
Ken has worked as a documentary photographer focusing on social issues for more than fifty years. He began photographing in West Oakland upon his arrival in California, in 1974.
Ken teaches photojournalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, among others, including the Dorothea Lange Fellowship. His work has been published in twelve monographs and presented in more than 230 exhibitions worldwide, including one-person shows at the Oakland Museum of California and the International Center for Photography in New York City.
Artist:
Ashley Salaz
@mingus.mouse
Ashley “Mingus Mouse” Salaz is an Indigenous photographer, filmmaker and beadworker living in the occupied Ohlone territory of Huchiun (Oakland, CA). Ashley is passionate about photographing political actions in the Bay Area, using her medium to highlight Indigenous activism and community work. She is also currently in pre-production on her first feature length documentary about her quest to reconnect to her tribe’s traditional Indigenous lifeways after her family left the rural community to move to the Bay Area in the 1960’s.
Ashley Salaz
@mingus.mouse
Ashley “Mingus Mouse” Salaz is an Indigenous photographer, filmmaker and beadworker living in the occupied Ohlone territory of Huchiun (Oakland, CA). Ashley is passionate about photographing political actions in the Bay Area, using her medium to highlight Indigenous activism and community work. She is also currently in pre-production on her first feature length documentary about her quest to reconnect to her tribe’s traditional Indigenous lifeways after her family left the rural community to move to the Bay Area in the 1960’s.
Artist:
Malcolm Ryder
malcolmryder.com
Malcolm Ryder runs the photography company Ryder Foto (aka RyderFoto), parent of the art production organization Oaktown Pictures, which produces West Oakland Matters. He most often fuses documentary, landscape, and abstraction with an emphasis on how the environment represents a vernacular language of people's self expression.
Malcolm Ryder
malcolmryder.com
Malcolm Ryder runs the photography company Ryder Foto (aka RyderFoto), parent of the art production organization Oaktown Pictures, which produces West Oakland Matters. He most often fuses documentary, landscape, and abstraction with an emphasis on how the environment represents a vernacular language of people's self expression.
Artist:
Jennifer Ward
@jennifer_.1972
For more than 25 years, award-winning photojournalist Jennifer Inez Ward has covered a wide range of topics, including City Hall, education, business, and the arts. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, CBS Marketwatch, The Oakland Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ward graduated from the University of California, Berkeley Journalism School in 2001.
A street photographer based in Oakland, California, Ward works with film and digital media to capture the economic crisis of working class and low-income residents who struggle to survive in the Bay Area.
Jennifer Ward
@jennifer_.1972
For more than 25 years, award-winning photojournalist Jennifer Inez Ward has covered a wide range of topics, including City Hall, education, business, and the arts. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, CBS Marketwatch, The Oakland Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Ward graduated from the University of California, Berkeley Journalism School in 2001.
A street photographer based in Oakland, California, Ward works with film and digital media to capture the economic crisis of working class and low-income residents who struggle to survive in the Bay Area.
Artist:
Michael Duckworth
An artist working in multiple mediums, Mike came to Oakland from L.A. in the pandemic and dove into art shows, performances, and more, inspired by the openness of artists in the Bay Area. Being in Oakland reminded Michael of the Black Panthers who started in the neighborhood that he was living in, which inspired him to want to continue building the legacy for him and his people through his art. With this, he would document his surroundings through photography, beginning to shoot with film cameras, and continue to join communities of artists, looking to build together in sustainable ways.
"The photos that I’ve chosen for this show were from a brand shoot in 2024 early summer for Blue, founder of Lucious Products Co. The setting of Defremery Park was a reminder to me of our past with the Black Panthers, how surreal it was to be in a historic landmark having a great weekend with black people. Understanding what they have fought for and built so people like me could freely take photos and Blue could comfortably have her own cosmetic line. To me this feeling and emotion of heightened black welfare were some of my favorite parts about living in Oakland."
Michael Duckworth
An artist working in multiple mediums, Mike came to Oakland from L.A. in the pandemic and dove into art shows, performances, and more, inspired by the openness of artists in the Bay Area. Being in Oakland reminded Michael of the Black Panthers who started in the neighborhood that he was living in, which inspired him to want to continue building the legacy for him and his people through his art. With this, he would document his surroundings through photography, beginning to shoot with film cameras, and continue to join communities of artists, looking to build together in sustainable ways.
"The photos that I’ve chosen for this show were from a brand shoot in 2024 early summer for Blue, founder of Lucious Products Co. The setting of Defremery Park was a reminder to me of our past with the Black Panthers, how surreal it was to be in a historic landmark having a great weekend with black people. Understanding what they have fought for and built so people like me could freely take photos and Blue could comfortably have her own cosmetic line. To me this feeling and emotion of heightened black welfare were some of my favorite parts about living in Oakland."
EXHIBITING VISUAL ARTISTS 2025
CAPTURING A LANDMARK
The Final Day of Esther's Orbit Room, June 2025: produced by Jeanette De Mello. Various photographers. [For model credits, contact @serialmaterial]
west oakland matters
Creativity in Art explores, proposes, and shares how we find meaning in the way we relate to our environment, ourselves, and our times. In that discovery, we learn how to make all three.
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