The Art of Aging Gracefully in the Visual Arts

A portrait has the mesmerizing ability to capture a person in a moment in time. And nobody focuses on aging gracefully quite like photographer Carl Van Vecten, a noted patron of the Harlem Renaissance and literary executor of Gertrude Stein.  

Museum of the African Diaspora docents will reveal the beauty of the later years through Van Vecten’s portraits of the most celebrated artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and politicians of the Harlem Renaissance. It will be an engaging, interactive virtual conversation that deeply explores the relationships, esthetics, cultural context and historical significance of the collection. 

The Docents
Remi Majekodunmi was born and raised in England where she earned an MFA in Acting from the renowned Drama Studio London. Remi is a multidisciplinary artist with experience as an actor, director and playwright. She currently works as a docent and teaching artist at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco.   

Sedey Gebreyes, born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is a multidisciplinary artist, educator and beekeeping enthusiast. Her creative work and teaching style are influenced by the visual artists, theater performers and storytellers of her childhood community. Following her passion, she moved to San Francisco in 2007 where she has held a variety of positions, including adjunct educator at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, teaching artist at the DeYoung Museum, co-founder and teaching artist at MiCultura Art Project, plus afterschool program manager at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco.