'Open Doors': Cedar-Sinai Art Exhibit Features Black Artists

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — Cedars-Sinai unveiled an art exhibit at their Beverly Grove hospital motivated by an interest in offering patients and visitors more representative artwork, according to a Cedars-Sinai news release.

The art exhibit, which opened with a panel discussion on April 27, features pieces from nearly two dozen Black artists that thematically focus on Black history, subjects and life, according to a Cedars-Sinai news release. The art exhibit will be up until the end of the summer.

"This exhibition is an important entry point for dialogue at Cedars-Sinai," said Nicole M. Mitchell, chief diversity and inclusion officer for Cedars-Sinai. "The portrayal of the Black experience from the spectrum of artists represented will shift how we think about the healing impact of art. It's a pathway to engaging in the world around us."

The exhibit is the brain child of visitor Ann Burford-Johnson, who noted the art in the hospital didn't represent her lived experience as she waited for her husband to have a procedure.

"I noticed there was very little or no representation of my culture as an African-American in the art," Burford-Johnson said in a news release. "After I returned home and my husband was well, I thought, 'I want to give back in some way.' I said, 'Let's will our art to Cedars-Sinai.'"

The art for the exhibit, dubbed "Open Doors," was donated and loaned by community members like Burford-Johnson and members of The Brain Trust of Cedars-Sinai.