When Jonathan Carver Moore opened his eponymous gallery in San Francisco’s Tenderloin at the end of March of this year, more than three hundred people showed up on the first night, lining up outside on Market Street to get in.
Moore, who has a bachelor’s in sociology and women’s studies and a master’s in public relations from George Washington University, is what some describe as a “connector.” He loves introducing people he thinks might be interested in each other’s ideas or want to collaborate. That’s probably why so many people showed up for him—because he’s supported them over the years.
After moving to San Francisco from D.C., Moore worked at a criminal justice organization. It wasn’t until 2019, while visiting his partner’s family in Canada, that he decided he needed to open his own gallery. Seeing work by the South African artist and activist Zenele Muholi was the catalyst.
“We had an outing at the Ottawa Art Gallery, and I actually saw one of Muholi’s photographs,” Moore tells me. He’d read about Muholi but had never seen Muholi’s work in a museum. When he finally did, it spoke to him.
“I think it has a lot to do with the fact that there was someone as dark as me,” he says. “Then once you read and go deeper into their work, you realize they’re not only Black but also queer, and they’re all about visibility. It resonated with me similarly to how I wanted these artists in the Bay Area to be more visible.”
Recently, Sanibonani, a show featuring Muholi and their students from the Muholi Art Institute, came to Moore’s gallery.
Sanibonani is full of beautiful and evocative photos, but Moore says there’s more to it than aesthetics. The photographers are all queer and Black, and Moore talked about how even though they’ve been attacked because of their identities, they keep going. At Muholi’s institute, the artists’ housing costs and studio spaces are covered for up to a year. The show at Moore’s gallery marks the first time they’ve exhibited outside South Africa.
Moore has deliberately focused on showing artists who might have a hard time getting recognition elsewhere. Previously, Jonathan Carver Moore has hosted a solo show of Kacy Jung’s soft sculptures, The Weight of Souls, and a group show, Black as an Experience, Not as a Color. Showing Muholi’s work (the artist will have a show at the San Francisco Museum of Art in February) is a huge moment for the gallerist.
Reached while in Lucerne for their first exhibition in Switzerland, Muholi says Moore’s gallery feels like home, and they would like to see more like it.
Moore’s experience—of not seeing themselves reflected on the walls of a museum—is one the photographer hears about often.
“The work of LGBTQ+ people, especially from Black communities, is barely exhibited,” Muholi said. “In Lucerne, this is the first Black queer show they’ve had in more than twenty years. There’s a need for arts education. Most people who have never seen themselves might think they’re alone.”
Photos in Sanibonani, which is a Zulu greeting, include those of trans activist Collen Mfazwe holding his former passport as Cordelia Mfazwe in a self-portrait; Sipho Nuse’s wearing a red and white blanket (symbolizing blood loss and purity) in three photos telling the story of his transition from boyhood to manhood through initiation, where he was circumcised and left out in the wilderness on his own; and a Nkosi Ngiphile’ photo where the photographer and their friend lean back to back in a bathtub, their heads inclining to rest on one another’s shoulders.
Muholi says the students are documenting their community.
“This will expand our visual history,” Muholi tells me. “It’s a community archive. These visuals are from the heart. Oftentimes you find the archiving of queer people done by outsiders. This is not theorized—it’s lived experience.”
After seeing Muholi’s work in Ottawa, Moore decided to take what he’d been doing for free—championing artists and introducing them to gallerists and collectors—and make that his job. He created an Instagram account, ARTUCATED, to spotlight artists and to learn more about art himself. He also got a job at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco while he kept looking for a space for his gallery. He ended up right where he wanted to be: in a storefront in the Tenderloin (the nation’s first nationally recognized transgender district) after he met the creative director for the Line Hotel, which has several branches and wanted to open one in San Francisco.
“He was like, ‘Hey, I know you’re really tapped in. We’re actually looking for someone to be on the ground floor, and we were hoping it would be a gallery. Do you know anyone?’” Moore says. “At the time, I was still working full time, so I was playing it pretty close to the vest because I wanted to make sure this was move I wanted to make. I said, ‘Oh, I might know someone.’ Of course, that someone was me.”
The hotel’s creative director, Stefan Merriweather, is grateful Moore accepted. After attending an event Moore put together before opening the gallery, he was sold.
“His insight in the artworks and connection to the Tenderloin, I thought was special,” Merriweather says. “He’s passionate about shining a light on underrepresented artists, he has a great eye for art and design, and he can pack any room you give him with people as excited and passionate as he is.”
