1-800 Happy Birthday in the Bay Area

A Public Exhibition Honoring Black and Brown Lives Killed by Police
Presented by WORTHLESSSTUDIOS, Created by Artist Mohammad Gorjestani and Even/Odd
January- March, 2026

1-800 Happy Birthday is a multi-format project and living memorial that celebrates the heavenly birthdays of the Black and Brown lives killed by police violence, created by filmmaker and artist Mohammad Gorjestani in deep collaboration with their families. The project is produced by creative studio Even/Odd and the NYC arts non-profit WORTHLESSSTUDIOS in partnership with the social justice non-profit Campaign Zero.

The project is currently collaborating with organizations across the United States to develop a series of installations in partnership with families, community groups, and other stakeholders on the West Coast, in the Midwest, and on the East Coast.

Upcoming events

January 19 - February 14, 2026, FOR SITE, SF— coinciding with SF Art Week and FOG Art Fair, 1-800 Happy Birthday will have an exhibition and public art installation in collaboration with FOR SITE at the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

January 23, 6-8 PM, FOR SITE, SF— Fort Mason Art Walk + Exhibition Celebration

February 1 - 28, 2026, BLACK PANTHER MUSEUM, OAKLAND— 1-800 Happy Birthday opens an exhibition at the Black Panther Museum in Oakland with public programming and a heavenly birthday celebration for Oscar Grant in collaboration with his mother, Rev. Wanda Johnson.

February 22, 2026, BLACK JOY PARADE, OAKLAND— 1-800 Happy Birthday will be a centerpiece of the Healing Village at the Black Joy Parade in Oakland.

More about 1-800 Happy Birthday

The Project began as a series of short films in 2014 and evolved to 1800happybirthday.com––a digital voice mail archive where loved ones and the public could leave birthday messages for individuals killed by police. The project later expanded into a large-scale immersive exhibition and public installation in Brooklyn, NY, through a partnership with WORTHLESSSTUDIOS.

1-800 Happy Birthday rejects the notion that memory must be anchored in tragedy. By centering birthdays instead of death, each call becomes an act of love, a defiant gesture against erasure and forgetting.