Newark Master Plan & Street Views Cesar Melgar Born in Newark, Cesar Melgar presents twenty-five digital c-prints from his series “Newark Master Plan.” With the black-and-white photographs taken between 2018 and 2022, Melgar prompts viewers to consider the frequency of Notice of Public Hearing Banners appearing on homes, commercial spaces, and landmarks throughout the city.

The Holdout II Derrick Adams With “The Holdout II,” Adams revisits a social sculpture that he initially debuted at Alijira: A Center for Contemporary Art in Newark in 2015. Now, using a house-like structure and the format of a pirate radio station, “The Holdout II” is hosted by Sister From Another Planet (Andrea Rose Clarke,

Who We Be Adama Delphine Fawundu Delphine Fawundu revisits her experimental video “Who We Be,” which follows performer James “Biggie Flighter” Benjamin Lewis, through Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa. The film becomes a sonic collage blending verses, instrumentals, and speeches exploring the African Diaspora's linguistic diversity. Here, Fawundu also debuts the wallpaper “Who We

Occupying Wall Street & Covid Journals Accra Shepp Weaved throughout the main floor of Express Newark is Accra Shepp’s “Occupying Wall Street,” an installation that features nineteen black-and-white portraits from his documenting of New York City’s 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement. Using a large-format view camera, this was Shepp’s first foray into documentary photography. Here,

At the Bottom of the Atlantic Ocean There's a Railroad Made of Human Bones Adebunmi Gbadebo After losing her mother, Brenda Ravenell, to COVID-19 in 2020, Adebunmi Gbadebo traveled to the True Blue Plantation, where her ancestors were enslaved in Fort Motte, South Carolina. Connecting with her cousin, Jackie Whitmore, Gbadebo created a memorial for

Artist Nzingah Oyo presents “Woven Prayers,” a series of large-scale portraits staged in front of hand-sewn prayer rugs that contemplate the complexities of faith, hope, and connection in a world yearning for meaning. Activating Express Newark's Lobby, Oyo’s images build from her “Dreams and Prayers” series to spotlight members of Newark’s local Muslim community —families,

By Dahlia Elsayed and Andrew Demirjian  Imagined by SHINE Portrait Studio artist-in-residence Dahlia Elsayed, in collaboration with artist Andrew Demirjian, “Subtle Centers” is an immersive installation that meditates on the permeability between interiorities and exteriorities, prompting visitors to imagine a space between the physical and spiritual worlds collectively. Transforming Express Newark’s second-floor Box Gallery into

Carroussa Sonore: Newark Younes Baba-Ali  Express Newark welcomes multimedia artist Younes Baba-Ali as its first international Artist-in-Residence. Baba-Ali is a Moroccan-born artist based in Brussels who engages the public by mixing technology, objects, sound, video, and photography with political, social, and ecological issues. Throughout his residency, he developed the performance and installation “Carroussa Sonore,” which

The Muslim concept of the Unseen (الغيب or al-ghayb) refers to that which is hidden from the visible world and beyond human perception. In this exhibit, the Unseen frames the work of thirteen international contemporary artists whose varied approaches to photography examine the frontier between opacity and transparency, the intersection of spirituality and art, and

Curated by Anthony Alvarez and Dahlia Elsayed Prayer rugs hold deep cultural significance and serve as mediums for contemplation. Adorned with symbols of hope and faith, they inspire resilience and remind us of light in times of darkness. These spaces, often woven with stories of struggle and perseverance, illustrate how beauty can emerge from adversity.