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The exhibit, \u201cHappy Heavenly Birthday Oscar,\u201d<\/a> on display through Feb. 28, goes behind the headlines surrounding Grant\u2019s death by honoring his childhood \u2014 as a kid who played Little League, a joyful teenager, and a young father. This year marks what would have been Grant\u2019s 40th birthday.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The installation uses sound with voice messages and imagery including never before seen photos and the screening of the 2014 short film titled \u201cHappy Birthday Oscar Grant.\u201d It is also interactive. One station is filled with blank cards that invite visitors to write birthday cards to Grant to help keep his memory alive and to connect visitors through shared grief.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it would be important for somebody to have a moment, after experiencing so much, to get a second to reflect and write and get some of those emotions out,\u201d Benjamin BJ McBride, the exhibit\u2019s curator, said, \u201ca chance to deposit it as an offering, as a gift.\u201d<\/p>\n The centerpiece of the installation is a decommissioned pay phone booth that plays birthday messages from family members, friends, and strangers for Grant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Visitors and other community members who would like to leave a birthday message for Grant can dial 510-543-0528 to leave a voicemail.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Oakland exhibit is one of two Bay Area installations honoring Grant that are part of the \u201c1-800 Happy Birthday\u201d<\/a> project led by WORTHLESSSTUDIOS<\/a>, Even\/Odd<\/a> and Campaign Zero<\/a>; the other is at San Francisco\u2019s FOG Art Fair at Fort Mason. The project was launched in 2013 by Bay Area artist and filmmaker Mohammad Gorjestani<\/a> as a way for families and communities to honor the lives of loved ones killed by the police.\u00a0<\/p>\n A larger exhibit opened in the fall of 2022<\/a> at the Worthless Studios arts space in Brooklyn, New York. The art installation which ran through early 2023, celebrated the life not just of Oscar Grant but of several others killed by law enforcement officers, including Mario Woods in San Francisco, Sean Monterrosa in Vallejo, Sandra Bland outside of Houston, Philando Castile outside of St. Paul, Eric Garner in New York, and George Floyd in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n Back home, McBride, a filmmaker, teamed up with Gorjestani to curate the exhibit in Oakland focusing on Grant. McBride is no stranger to working on projects<\/a> that pay homage to and seek justice for those who have died at the hands of police. McBride worked alongside his cousin, an Oakland pastor named Ben McBride, to support Woods\u2019 family and seek accountability for the officers involved in his death. In 2020, San Francisco\u2019s Department of Police Accountability found the officers involved used \u201cunnecessary force,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 but none of the officers were disciplined for their actions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were interested in finding a space that felt like it was connected to the narrative, and the Black Panther Party Museum was the perfect venue for this exhibition,\u201d McBride said. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to take that exhibition and have it in New York, and Oscar\u2019s story represented there, but it\u2019s a whole \u2018nother thing to bring it to Oakland, where this actually happened, where Oscar Grant Plaza is right up the street, where the protests took place.\u201d<\/p>\n Gorjestani and McBride enlisted the help of Free Alexander Tripp for exhibition design and Jeremy Patterson for art direction and design, and approached artist Cecelia Perez to produce airbrush portraits.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe purpose of this project is to not get hung up on the headline or the movie trailer,\u201d McBride said. \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that Oscar is a human being first. I think the exhibition does a good job in taking you through a bit of his life with photos you haven\u2019t seen before, with messages you might have never heard before. It\u2019s a special opportunity to engage with his narrative and his story in a really powerful way.\u201d<\/p>\n McBride isn\u2019t sure what will be done with all the birthday cards people write, yet. But he hopes to create a permanent public art installation related to Grant\u2019s life and legacy.<\/p>\n McBride and his collaborators are teaming up with producers of the Feb. 22 Black Joy Parade<\/a> to bring the pay phone popup that plays messages for those killed by police to the festival\u2019s \u201chealing village\u201d where attendees will have the chance to listen to them.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want this to be lost on folks, that there\u2019s a taking back of the narrative that\u2019s happening in this exhibition, too,\u201d McBride said. \u201cI want people to think about his life more than they think about the consequences of what happened to him. That\u2019s important for us to do. That narrative shift opens up an opportunity for engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800-HB-Day2-24-1067x1600.jpg\")
The decommisioned payphone plays voicemails for Oscar Grant from family members, friends and other community members. Credit: Erick Salazar<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1800-HB-Day2-50-1-1600x1067.jpg\")
Visitors at the exhibit can write a birthday card for Grant to celebrate what would have been his 40th birthday. Credit: Erick Salazar<\/a><\/p>\n