A traveling art exhibit in the United States is commemorating what would have been the 40th birthday of Oscar Grant, whose death inspired the film Fruitvale Station. The exhibit, titled Happy Heavenly Birthday, Oscar, is on display at the Black Panther Party Museum in Oakland, California, from 1 February to 11 April. It features photographs from Grant's life, birthday cards for visitors to write messages, and a phone booth installation playing birthday voicemails from around the world. A film, Happy Birthday Oscar Grant, Love Mom, about how family and friends have celebrated his birthday since his death, is also screening.
Grant was shot and killed by Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale station in Oakland on 1 January 2009, after celebrating New Year's Eve with his mother, Wanda Johnson. Johnson described their last meal together, eating gumbo, a Black American tradition, and said she has prayed for her son every year on his birthday. 'Oscar, I wish we had that time when we had gumbo and was able to laugh and hug again,' Johnson told the Guardian. 'You're forever in my heart.'
The exhibit is part of the 1-800 Happy Birthday project, founded by San Francisco-based film-maker Mohammad Gorjestani in 2013. The project allows people to leave voice messages for 15 individuals killed by police violence in the US, including Grant, Michael Brown, George Floyd, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and Philando Castile. After a Brooklyn exhibition in 2022, the project received $1m in funding, primarily from the Mellon Foundation, to tour the nation throughout 2026 and 2027. Stops include New York for Eric Garner's birthday on 15 September 2026, and the midwest in summer 2027.
Gorjestani said the project aims to highlight systemic injustices and the pervasiveness of failed public safety measures, especially after high-profile fatal shootings in January 2026. 'This project’s job is to ask people to meet at the most human level, which is just that somebody had a life, somebody had their own dreams for 10 years from now, for tomorrow,' he said. 'We can all relate to a birthday.'
