Image: Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla
The 2026 Russell Lecture will feature artist Meleko Mokgosi in a program presented in collaboration with the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego.
Introductory remarks are scheduled for 5:30 p.m., followed by the Russell Lecture with Mokgosi; the lecture is scheduled to conclude at 6:45 p.m.
Born in Francistown, Botswana, Mokgosi is an artist, professor, and director of graduate studies in painting and printmaking at the Yale School of Art. He is also the co-founder and director of the Interdisciplinary Art and Theory Program.
Mokgosi received his BA from Williams College in 2007 and participated in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Independent Study Program that same year, before receiving his MFA from the Interdisciplinary Studio Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2011.
The Russell Foundation was established through the will of Betty Russell, one of MCASD’s founding docents and a longtime supporter of UC San Diego. Russell specified that funds from the foundation should support the Museum and the University by helping to “foster the appreciation and study of the modern visual arts and creativity of young artists.”
