A Conversation with de Young Landscape Designer Walter Hood
Image courtesy of the International African American Museum
Join us for a conversation between landscape designer and artist Walter Hood and architecture and design curator Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher. In celebration of the de Young’s 20th anniversary, this talk traces the arc of memory, identity, and landscape through two pivotal garden projects — including the redesign of the de Young’s surrounding gardens.
Learn how the design of the African Ancestors Garden at the recently completed International African American Museum in Charleston honors the lives and legacies of the African diaspora. Integrating cultural symbolism, native plant ecologies, and evocative spatial forms, the garden serves as a living memorial, designed to foster reflection, healing, and connection. Through this layered and immersive landscape, the past is not only remembered, but embodied.
The discussion will also highlight the redesign of the de Young’s own gardens, Hood Design Studio’s first museum project, and reflect on the lessons learned from that formative collaboration. Two decades later, the de Young gardens continue to resonate as spaces of cultural expression and civic engagement.
Together, these projects frame a broader conversation about landscape as a medium for storytelling, remembrance, and belonging.
Speakers
Walter J. Hood, a multidisciplinary designer from Charlotte, North Carolina, is internationally recognized for his work in art, landscape architecture, urbanism, and research. He founded Hood Design Studio in Oakland, California, in 1992 and continues to lead the practice as its creative director. Integrating African American cultural arts into his design philosophy, Hood has established a distinctive voice — reshaping spaces to meet contemporary needs while honoring their layered histories. A former professor at UC Berkeley and educator at Harvard, he is also the author of Black Landscapes Matter.
Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher is the Helen Hilton Raiser Curator and Head of the Architecture and Design Department at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Since 2008, she has organized several key acquisitions and exhibitions with a focus on critical visionary works of design from the late 20th century to today. Recent exhibitions include Get in the Game (2024) (co-curator); Conversation Pieces (2022); and Nature x Humanity: OXMAN Architects (2022). Prior to SFMOMA, she worked in curatorial positions at the Getty Research Institute, Southern California Institute of Architecture, and the Hammer Museum.
Ticket info
Free program. Theater doors will open 30 minutes before the start of the program. Seating is limited and unassigned and first come, first served. Admission to the theater program does not include admission to the special exhibition or other galleries in the museum.
Shop
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The African Ancestors Garden
$59.95
Contact info
Public Programs
publicprograms@famsf.org
415.750.7694
