Bodies, Borders and Resistance: Dread Scott and Rael San Fratello at YBCA

Event: Opening Night for Rael San Fratello and Dread Scott at YBCA
Date: September 24, 2026
Location: YBCA
Photos:  Mahelly Ferreira and Kelly Keltos for Drew Altizer Photography

On September 25, 2026, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts welcomed artists, curators, community leaders, and art lovers for a vibrant opening celebration of two new exhibitions: Dread Scott: The Body Politic and Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations. Both exhibitions offer a look at how artists confront complex political issues and the structures that shape American life. The exhibitions probe pressing social concerns through radically different materials and methods.

Dread Scott: The Body Politic is the most significant exhibition of the groundbreaking artist’s work to date. Guests were awed by the newly-commissioned epic body print collage which spans an entire gallery wall, and explored Scott’s thoughtful examinations of patriotism, power, and resistance.

Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations presents the work of Oakland-based architecture and design studio Rael San Fratello. Visitors explored their full body of work, from their early explorations merging construction materials and clothing, to the provocative and moving Teeter-Totter Wall project. Guests were particularly compelled by their trailblazing experiments with 3D printing—including the Taxonomy Table (filled with hundreds of small-scale constructions made from materials such as sawdust, cotton candy, wildfire ash, and tire rubber) and the new piece Sanctuary (which was entirely printed on-site using clay, mud, and sand, as well as the Taxonomy Table).

Notable attendees: Mari Robles – YBCA CEO, René Morales – Curator, Dread Scott – Artist, Virginia San Fratello – Artist, Ronald Rael – Artist