Paul Henderson

What an incredible privilege to join the incredible panel at Spiralis Gallery in Easton, Maryland, for their exhibition “Shall We Gather At The River.”
The conversation centered on water as a powerful conduit for culture, identity, and spirituality across the African diaspora but it also opened the door to a much larger, urgent dialogue about systemic equity in the art ecosystem.

As a lawyer and an advocate, my focus is always on where power sits. Right now, on average, less than 2% of the works in major U.S. museums are by African American artists, and for Black women, that number plummets to a staggering 0.05%.

We cannot afford to cede our cultural authority to institutions, agencies, or traditional gatekeepers while we wait for them to validate our narratives. We are our own curators. We define the market and preserve our own histories by:

Exercising our individual authority to decide what culture looks like.

Investing our dollars directly in living artists and the independent galleries that champion them.

Bringing art into our homes and offices to actively disrupt sanitized spaces with visual storytelling that reflects our true communities.

Collecting isn’t a passive hobby reserved for a select elite; it is a profound act of advocacy, narrative reclamation, and asset-building. When we buy a piece of art, we aren’t just engaging in a transaction . . . we are investing in a dream, preserving a timeline, and setting the market value for overlooked voices!

A huge thank you to curator and moderator Zudeka, my fellow panelist Jean Danielle Laontan, and for bringing us all together for this deeply spiritual and necessary conversation.

Don’t worry if you missed the conversation, you can still watch the full panel discussion at my YouTube channel! You’ll can listen and hear how to join me and explore how you can step into your own power as a collector and cultural advocate!

We didn’t even finish the walk today before she decided that it was time to go back home for a nap…

There is a unique power in seeing an artist’s work seen from the walls of your own collection to the storied galleries of !
It was a privilege to spend time today with Carla Williams, whose practice continues to redefine how we engage with history and the self. Y'all know I've been honoring (stalking) her work for years now!
Her piece Side Braid (from the series How to Read Character) is such a vital part of the dialogue surrounding identity and authorship; reminding us that a photograph is never just a fixed moment, but a living archive.
Grateful for the lunch, the deep conversation, and the opportunity to hear her insights ahead of her artist talk for the (Re)Constructing History exhibition. If you haven’t seen the show yet, it’s a profound look at how we imagine the layers of history embedded within the present.
A huge thank you to Carla for the inspiration and for her continued impact on the visual landscape of San Francisco and beyond.

Grateful for a weekend steeped in ideas, color, and care. Brunch with and then popped over to to attended art talk—I always feel like it’s a gift to hear an artist articulate process, intention, and lineage with such clarity and generosity!

I carried that energy straight into FOG Art + Design Fair, where the work continues to expand the conversation. Highlights for me included powerful pieces by and each of them pushing form, narrative, and presence in their own unmistakable ways.

I’m feeling like it’s time for me to give another art talk, lol I get so inspired with other conversations and great art! Diverse cultural events and moments like these remind me why being in community with artists matters so much.
Art doesn’t just live on the walls, it lives in dialogue.

VIP night at The Battery for the celebration One Night for Year One. ✨
An unforgettable gathering of the SF art community and beyond, marking one year of Culture Forward and a bold $5M commitment to downtown creativity through 2027.

Another great event during ! So much love for the Culture Forward awardees who lit up the night: Oakland to All (Mini Ball!), Non Stop Bhangra bringing Punjab traditions to the floor, Per Sia with Drag Story Hour joy, Club Unicornio DJs, and live music from SFJAZZ.

And because the night wasn’t done… the Friends Only after-party kept the energy going late. Coven vibes, familiar faces, and the kind of room that reminds you why community matters.
I got trapped in the elevator for 40minutes -but I survived!
Culture. Celebration. Forward motion. 🖤