45th Annual Black Doll Show | Sower of Seeds: Creating a New Tomorrow

The William Grant Still Arts Center presents the 45th Annual Black Doll Show: “Sower of Seeds: Creating a New Tomorrow.”
Curated by Heather Hilliard Bonds

45th Annual Black Doll Show: Sower of Seeds: Creating a New Tomorrow—the longest-running annual exhibition in Los Angeles—draws inspiration from Octavia E. Butler’s "Parable of the Sower," where change is both truth and teacher. Through handmade and collected Black dolls, this year’s exhibition reflects on transformation amid uncertainty—raids, displacement, fire, flood, and renewal. Like the Earthseed philosophy, Sower of Seeds asks what new worlds can emerge when care, imagination, and resilience take root. Each doll becomes a vessel of hope, a reminder that all we touch, we change; and in changing, we create tomorrow.

Featured Artists and/or Collectors:
Adia Jamille, Adrienne Franklin, Aiysha Sinclair, Alexzandria Robin, Angela Franklin, Anjaliq Barre, Billie J. Green, Brandi Mack-Khalfani, Bryan Duran, Candace Thomas, CoCo Harris, Cynthia Stone, Dante Ross, Deserai Davis, Donnell DeArt Dolls, Evelyn Pinkard, Evelyn Pinkard, Fana Babadayo, Imani W. Russell, Jade Daniels, James Tucker, Jamila Nelson, Jeremiah Garcia, John Jennings, Joyce Miles, Kimberly Camp, Kristina Beaty, Maya Loftin, Myshell Curry, NK Abstract, Pamela Boddie, Pat Shivers, Priyah Bhagat, Side Street Projects, Tracey Willard, Valena Dismukes Broussard, and more to be announced.

Sower of Seeds: Creating a New Tomorrow Programming:

• Doll Workshops Saturdays, December 20, 2025, January 10, and **February 7, 2026, **Ages 18+
• Side Street Projects - Zorthian Ranch, Altadena Doll Workshop, Saturday, January 17, 2026
• Land Safety/Land Trust/Land Back Retreat, Saturday, January 24, 2026
• DIY Preservation and Archiving Workshop, Saturday, January 31, 2026                

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