Oakland artist Adia Millett has been commissioned to create public art at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland. She’s the third local artist to add their work to the hospital grounds.
Echoing stained glass, Millett’s portfolio of work is known for unravelling old narratives and stitching them anew – like an old blanket finds a new life in a quilter’s hands.
“When I started making art professionally, I became aware of how stories are put upon us,” she explains. “I also began thinking about how do we, as women, as people of color, as people with disabilities – figure out ways to determine what our story is.”
She continues: “For me, that was through connections to others and taking the stories that have been put on us and pulling them apart to create something new.”
And it was those connections that drew her back to Oakland after attending graduate school and spending eight years in New York.
“My work 10 years ago was about light and shadows,” she says. “Now, it’s a lot about color, brightness and joy and that comes not only from this land but the multitude of cultures here in Oakland and how we celebrate our ancestors and history.”
Millett joins other well-known artists like Walter Hood in providing publicly accessible art for UCSF Benioff Oakland in alignment with the city’s public art mandates connected with campus enhancements.
Keeping an Oakland promise
At UCSF Benioff Oakland, Millett’s work – the details of which are still being developed – is expected to grace the facade of the hospital’s new Administrative Support Building. Nestled on the corner of Dover and 52nd streets, the building will provide office space for physicians and hospital administration staff, allowing staff to relocate from seismically non-compliant buildings.
“Adia’s work embodies the rich contributions of the diverse Oakland community,” says UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals Vice President of Operations George Weiss. “Her interplay of shape, color, light and natural images inspires while generating a sense of healing.”
My hope is that people who are not just walking by but also patients will be able to use it as a beacon of hope and possibility.”
The support building is a crucial step in upgrades happening at UCSF Benioff Oakland – one of just six level 1 pediatric trauma centers in California that treat the most serious cases. UCSF Health is currently investing $1.5 billion to strengthen care, while modernizing the hospital to better serve children throughout the East Bay and region.
“This hospital has been the safety net for children in this community for more than 100 years and comes with a legacy of top-quality and transformational care,” Weiss says. “We’ve made a promise to the children and families of Oakland and beyond to continue that care. Our investment in modernizing the hospital is essential for sustaining our mission.”
A project of the heart, a beacon of hope
Millett is also no stranger to Oakland public art, having recently partnered with youth organizations to paint a mural on the basketball courts of West Oakland’s Lowell Park, just a few miles south of the hospital. Entitled “Taking Flight,” the mural was inspired by the idea of “communal levitation” in which each one lifts another.
At UCSF Benioff Oakland, Millett hopes her work will be a source of inspiration for neighbors, staff and the tens of thousands of children seen annually at the hospital.
“As an artist, this is what I call a heart project. It’s about the people I care about and knowing that you don’t have to go into a gallery or a museum to see something beautiful and inspiring,” she says. “My hope is that people who are not just walking by but also patients will be able to use it as a beacon of hope and possibility.”