Carving Out Spaces for Artists of Color

As Oakland gentrifies, are there still creative spaces that celebrate diversity?

Diamela Ifé Cutiño (left) and Ashara Ekundayo (right). Photos: BJ Gopinath

In the year and a half since Detroit-born curator, strategist, and founder Ashara Ekundayo opened her eponymous gallery in the Koreatown Northgate district (KONO) in Oakland, much has changed in the neighborhood. What were once empty lots and abandoned…