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Event Date
April 25, 2026

Event Location

MOCAD: 4454 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48201

Olayami Dabls + Jova Lynne

Saturday, April 25, 2026

3pm – 5pm

As part of the museum’s reopening, please join us for a special conversation between MOCAD’s Artistic Director + Co-Director, Jova Lynne, and artist, curator, and storyteller Olayami Dabls, on the occasion of Dabls’ first comprehensive museum retrospective, Detroit Cosmologies.

Together, Lynne and Dabls will reflect on the visual language he has created within his body of work spanning over four decades. This dialogue will explore the depth of Dabls’ artistic practice, his significant contributions to shaping Detroit’s cultural landscape, and how he uses art to foster historical recovery, spiritual inquiry, and community formation.

the Speakers

Photo by Patrick Barber. Courtesy of the Kresge Foundation.

OLAYAMI DABLS’ (b. 1948, Canton, MS) practice, rooted in education and community engagement, reflects his belief that art fosters balance and understanding. His murals across Detroit extend this vision, featuring symbolic materials and ancient symbols of transformation and resilience.

In the 1970s, Dabls worked at the Afro-American Museum, now known as the Charles H. Wright Museum, where he began to explore the perception of African art. Driven by a desire to highlight art’s original role in African culture as a tool for emotional and cultural healing, he founded the MBAD African Bead Museum and Dabls African Bead Gallery in 1994. Located at the intersection of Grand River and West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, the museum and its surrounding installations invite visitors to explore the deep connections between material, memory, and identity.

 

Courtesy of Jova Lynne.

Courtesy of Jova Lynne.

JOVA LYNNE is a multidisciplinary artist exploring identity, power, and the body through photography, video, performance, and installation. Her Jamaican heritage informs her work, which examines how selfhood is shaped by memory and mythology. She holds an MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BA in Film/Video from Hampshire College.

Recent solo exhibitions include The Color of You at the Buffalo Institute of Contemporary Art (2026), Convergence at Sculpture Center in Cleveland (2024), and Split at Matéria Gallery in Detroit (2023). Notable group shows feature the Kingston Biennial (2024) and Luminosity at the Charles H. Wright Museum (2025).

Lynne has participated in residencies at Yaddo (2024) and Mass MoCA (2020), with her work represented in collections such as the Harvard Art Museums and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Her practice has been highlighted in publications such as The New York Times and ArtForum.