‘My Homies’ exhibit creates a home away from home in Downtown L.A.
How Nakeyta Moore of ARTLOUDLA cultivates community for BIPOC artists.
Inside the "My Homies" exhibit where founder of the Black-owned gallery Valence Projects, Josiah Jones, sits on the couch. (Photo by Sheridan Hunter)
By Sheridan Hunter
October 29, 2024 at 6:51PM PDT
At the corner of 5th and Main Street in Downtown L.A. resides the newly opened art exhibition that takes a contemporary spin on fine art: “My Homies.”
Patrons gathered inside the exhibit, "My Homies," in DTLA on opening night. (Photo by Sheridan Hunter)
Josiah Jones, founder of the Black-owned gallery Valence Projects, engaged Nakeyta Moore, founder of ARTLOUDLA, to curate “My Homies.” The exhibit, with its multi-level studio layout and cozy feel, is reminiscent of scenes depicted in “Entergalactic,” the animated film co-created by Kid Cudi. It brings together an international community of BIPOC fine artists under the theme of “home.”
“A lot of people that I come in contact with are transplants and are from different places, and have had to reinvent the meaning of home,” Moore said. “Whether it be a positive or a negative, whether home is a place of refuge from here, whether it be a place they never return to, I feel like everyone has that common denominator and either is searching or finding wherever home is for them.”
The Black colloquium, “my homies,” naturally evolved from there, Moore explained. “The idea of community that you build inside and outside of your home, and how that continues to grow and influence you again, it just is something that we can all relate to in some way, shape or form,” she said.
Jones said the lack of Black-centric spaces for fine artists in L.A. is what inspired him to create the space.
Street view of the "My Homies" exhibit, located at the corner of 5th and Main Street in DTLA. (Photo by Sheridan Hunter)
“It was a response to not finding a lot of community for Black people to connect and learn from each other, and grow within fine art,” he said. “So we had the space, wanted to get people out, and that’s what we did.”
Films, photographs, textiles and paintings are just some of the art mediums patrons will find on display at the exhibit. “[We] definitely wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just one style of anything,” Moore said about the diversity of works shown. “We were definitely conscious of that.”
One of the artists whose work is currently on display is Greg Plater, founder of the creative ecosystem Intellectual Athlete Studio from Salem, Oregon. As a former professional basketball player, “My Homies” marks Plater’s first-ever gallery exhibit, and his collage piece, “Geographic Vision,” speaks to his experience as a lifelong creative.
The piece “was all about creating the human connection and showing that the way we are informed about other people usually starts at home,” Plater said. “For me, traveling to over 20 countries changed my life because I realized how much more similar we were than not.”
As a transplant himself, “My Homies” offers Plater the opportunity to build community in L.A.
“I felt the most at home I’ve felt with a group of people I didn’t know,” he said. “I have to give [Josiah and Nakeyta] so much love for seeing potential in me and allowing me to be a part of this as my first show.”
The exhibit is available for walkthroughs by appointment from now until November 7, when ARTLOUDLA will host a closing ceremony that includes a panel discussion, film screening and birthday celebration for Jones to conclude the exhibit.
This story has been updated to provide additional context and description. The photo of “Geographic Vision” was also updated.