Demetri Broxton

Demetri Broxton’s practice explores ancestry, protection, and cultural memory. Using beads, sequins, cowrie shells, and materials rooted in his Louisiana Creole and Filipino heritage, Broxton creates meticulously embellished objects that function as contemporary talismans, honoring the beauty, complexity, and endurance of Black and diasporic cultures.

Broxton’s beaded and sequined works are often grounded in photographic images of his ancestors and those of his community, drawn from both personal and public archives. “By transporting their likenesses into beaded, futuristic forms,” the artist explains, “I imagine them thriving in the world they deserved — a world where their hopes are realized.” This temporal reimagination situates Broxton’ work within Afrofuturism, using craft to collapse past and future into a liberated present. “I create objects that ask viewers to consider the histories we carry, the protection we seek, and the futures we imagine.”

Broxton’s art has been exhibited nationally, at institutions including the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, CA; Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL; and Black Gold: Stories Untold (2025), organized by FOR-SITE at Fort Point National Historic Site, San Francisco, CA. His work is held in the collections of the de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Monterey Museum of Art, CA; Crocker Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; and Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, among others. In addition to his art practice, Broxton serves as the Executive Director of San Francisco visual arts non-profit Root Division.