Assistant Professor of Cinema and Digital Media Lishan Az has been named an Emerging Artist at The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco for the 2023–24 season. Lishan’s work is titled Eugene’s Cove, and will be on view December 13, 2023, until March 3, 2024. Eugene’s Cove draws on mythology and MoAD’s Emerging Artists Program highlights local, emerging, and mid-career visual artists and art collectives through solo exhibitions that reflect the cultural and artistic richness of the African diaspora.

In 1919, at a segregated beach on the south side of Chicago, 17-year-old Eugene Williams was killed by a white gang after he accidentally floated across the color line. Eugene’s Cove explores the relationship between Black folks and water by imagining an underwater world where those we thought drowned sank and became something more. Drawing on mythology and historical events from across the diaspora, through 35mm film photography, soundscape, installation, and video, this exhibit immerses the viewer in a world in which Eugene’s laughter rings out, taunting “You tried to drown me, but I’m just down here thriving.”

MoAD is a contemporary art museum, which “celebrates Black cultures, ignites challenging conversations, and inspires learning through the global lens of the African Diaspora.”