My little Frida Kahlo drawing, first created for René Yañez’s groundbreaking exhibition, “Homenaje a Frida Kahlo,” at the Galería de la Raza in 1978, is currently showing in the “Frida: The Making of an Icon” exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston until May 17, 2026. The show will travel to the Tate Modern in London on June 25, 2006 – January 3, 2027. I’m honored to be exhibiting with such esteemed Bay Area colleagues as Amalia Mesa-Bains, Carmen Lomas Garza, Ester Hernandez, and Rupert Garcia, as well as many others. The monumental exhibition features more than 30 works by Frida as well as 120 artists across five generations who were inspired by her work.

René Yañez was a friend, innovative artist, and visionary curator. In 1970, he co-founded Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community focused gallery in the Mission district, and served as its director for 15 years. René brought Mexico's Day of the Dead to the Mission district, starting with the inaugural 1972 exhibit at the Galeria de la Raza and then every year after that either at the Galería or at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. I was privileged to be invited to some of those exhibitions, since he wanted to have a cultural mix of artists who addressed the same theme. In 1982, René invited me to his “In Progress” exhibition, in which 20 artists created portable murals on wood panels inside the Galería de la Raza. I enlarged my “Celebration of the Spirit” to fit a 4'x8' panel. We painted them during the run of the exhibition and visitors came to see us work. Thanks to the close interactions, I got to know the muralists and their artist friends, and people in the neighborhood. We formed lasting bonds; I remain friends with several of them to this day.

“Nancy Hom's art articulates a cultural sensibility reminiscent of renowned contemporary artist Rupert Garcia. Rooted in her culture and socio-political consciousness, Hom's iconography is evocative and poignant. ”  

– Lenore Chinn, Artist

UPDATES and EVENTS

The “I-Hotel Manilatown” mandala I created in October 2025 not only honored the 48-year history of the I-Hotel struggle and celebrated the 20th anniversary of Manilatown Center, but it also marked the end of 13 years of mandala-making for me. I will not be doing big community-based mandalas from scratch anymore. Even with a dedicated team, it is a lot of work, and many galleries cannot dedicate a large floor space for me to display it for a month. I am still open to displaying a mandala from items that are already created, mixing and matching or adding one or two new rows, or displaying a photograph of the mandala. 

In 2026, my main focus will be on writing about all the projects I’ve done and their meaning to myself and to the communities I’ve served. The mandala format has given me a structure to write my memoir; each mandala tells a story about my life and community involvement. I’m also going to be writing more poetry and prose. 

I continue to maintain the “Prayers for the Dead” mandala in which I say weekly prayers for those who have died. The names are replaced every week or two. And my section in the film, “Rock, Scissor, Paper” by Audrey Daniel, will be expanded to include an interview about my mandala work. It will be done later this year.