San Francisco's SOMArts Cultural Center Presents "NIGHT LIGHT: MULTIMEDIA and PERFORMANCE F

Rayla Meshawn, performance from Night Light 2016. Photo courtesy of Liam Brooks.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, San Francisco, Calif. – Now in its seventh year, "Night Light" returns for an expanded, two-night festival that will blanket SOMArts’ postindustrial space in luminous art installations, durational and time-based performances, and digital and cinematic projections.

The luminous art exhibition and festival with performances celebrating radical self-determination through the work of 60-plus artists.

The galleries open Friday, Aug. 25, and Saturday, Aug. 26, at 8:30 p.m. on both nights. Performances begin at 9:00 p.m. and last until the event ends at 12:30 am. SOMArts Cultural Center is at 934 Brannan Street in San Francisco.

In conjunction with Night Light, SOMArts is proud to present "The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution," on display in SOMArts’ Main Gallery, now through, Aug. 26.

The Black Woman is God and Night Light will present over 100 Bay Area visual and performing artists challenging Eurocentric notions of God and creating new myths for collective liberation. “Night Light takes on the theme of Divine Revolution in order to illuminate what it means to not only rewrite but create new narratives and new myths in the image of people of color," said co-curator Melorra Green, who worked with Karen Seneferu to select a curatorial theme that expands the conversation. For more information about "The Black Woman is God," as well as list of visual artists work on display in the Main Gallery during Night Light, visit www.somarts.org/theblackwomanisgod2017.

THE ARTISTS: Iranian-born multimedia artist Azin Seraj’s work combines video projection with elemental materials, giving voice to global issues of migration, language and culture by visually recounting and remembering personal narratives of those affected.

For Night Light, Seraj will present The Abyss — a video installation that explores the space accessed through the subconscious. As Seraj explains, “Against the pulsating terrain of the subconscious, the gaze functions as both an anchor to the self and a channel to its ever-changing states.” Rayla Meshawn creates performance art and dance pieces exploring social psychological themes through Afro-Contemporary movement. Performing on Friday, August 25, Meshawn’s work will meditate on the complexity of the human experience, focusing on our capacity to feel and act paradoxically. Visual artist Thomas Tandy has been exhibiting work in San Francisco since 1968. Now a retired engineer, Tandy’s work is a reflection of the beauty and ongoing journey of learning and living in community alongside Black women. Portland-based singer Vaughn Kimmons and keyboardist Andre Burgos will bring their jazzy, intergalactic soul project Brown Calculus to the Night Light Main Stage on Saturday, August 26. René Yañez — curator of SOMArts' annual Día de los Muertos exhibition and creator of SOMArts' beloved art garden — will create a new illuminated installation responding to the theme of divine revolution for Night Light.