JJC Talks: JJC x MICA Artists in Residence

JJC Talks presents a conversation with the 2026 JJC x MICA Artists in Residence: Dr. Yemonja Smalls, Dirk Joseph, and Anna Divinagracia. The artists will share work developed during the residency and discuss how the experience has influenced their broader artistic practices.

The program brings together three artists whose work addresses relationships, community, identity, culture, resilience, and belonging through sculpture, visual art, puppetry, film, photography, and interdisciplinary practice.

When: November 12, 2026

Showtimes: 6:30–8:00 p.m.

Tickets: Free. Registration is encouraged.

Venue: Baltimore Museum of Art, Joseph Education Center Insight Lab

Program: Artist talk and conversation with the 2026 JJC x MICA Artists in Residence

Lineup: Dr. Yemonja Smalls, Dirk Joseph, and Anna Divinagracia

Dr. Yemonja Smalls: Born in Hershey, Pennsylvania, in 1972, Smalls is a multidimensional artist and sculptural cartographer of human connections. Her mixed-media work examines the visible and invisible ties between people, including their tensions, fractures, beauty, and possibilities for healing. Drawing on more than two decades of professional work supporting people with developmental disabilities, as well as her Ph.D. in psychology and role as Division Chief of Operational Excellence for the Maryland Department of Health’s Developmental Disabilities Administration, she explores how love, trauma, resilience, and personal histories shape relationships with oneself and others. Her work has been presented at institutions including the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, the Frederick Douglass-Isaac Myers Maritime Museum, Hill Center Galleries, Harold Washington Library, South Side Community Art Center, Howard University, and the Sojourner Family Peace Center, along with numerous private collections.

Dirk Joseph: Born in Trincity, Trinidad and Tobago, in 1967, Joseph is a Baltimore-based visual artist, muralist, puppeteer, filmmaker, art teacher, and community arts facilitator. He has worked as an artist and educator for more than 30 years and founded String Theory Theater, a traveling puppetry troupe with his daughters, in 2016. Born in Trinidad and raised in New York, he has lived in Baltimore since 2002. His work considers dreaming, ritual, spirituality, nature, community, decolonization, and authentic and collective ways of living. Through art and workshops, he investigates the role of play, storytelling, and creativity in personal development, cultural continuity, and shared meaning, while questioning social values shaped by colonialism, individualism, and extraction. His practice is also informed by nature and Indigenous and communal traditions. Joseph is developing a multipurpose art space at 2103-B Charles Street into a community art center called the Art Lab, which he plans to officially open this summer.

Anna Divinagracia: Born in Davao City, Philippines, in 1997, Divinagracia is an interdisciplinary visual artist and curator whose work reflects her experiences growing up in the Philippines and coming of age in Baltimore. Her practice explores Filipino and American culture, love, destiny, home, identity, and immigrant acculturation. She began making images with a camera at a young age and holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Morgan State University. Her experience includes residencies and fellowships with Creative Alliance and Our Art Room Agency, teaching at the Walters Art Museum through the Through Our Eyes program, and serving as Digital Marketing Coordinator at Chesapeake Arts Center. Her work has been exhibited at galleries and universities throughout Baltimore, the Umbrella Art Fair in Washington, D.C., and on a billboard in Los Angeles.

Registration: Advance registration is encouraged. If tickets are unavailable, prospective attendees may join the waitlist by emailing Merrell Hambleton at mhambleton@artbma.org.