Exhibitions
Touching the Earth
Curated by: Yvonne Shirley
Location: Express Newark Lobby
On View: October 9 – November 26, 2025
An omnibus composed of moments from the filmworks of Express Newark’s Community Media Center Members. This offering takes its title from bell hooks’ essay of the same name that opens with the line “When we love the earth, we are able to love ourselves more fully.” The collection holds Newark’s parks as sacred spaces of liberation, reclamation, protection, reflection, and healing.
Featured Artists: Abdul-Mutakubirr Morton, ByHaze & Zunyda, Kiymora Smith, Laïssa Christelle Alexis, Opo’s Canon, Shaheed Shaheed, TaNisha Fordham, Tanisha Best aka Dear Newark, Tiffany Salas.
Reimagining and Uniting Newark’s Downtown Parks. A Collaboration: Design Consortium & Newark City Parks Foundation
Exhibition Design: Camilla M. Zarzuela and Liam L. Gunning, with support from Visiting Professor Rebecca Pauline Jampol and Professor Chantal Fischzang.
Location: Express Newark Lobby
On View: Through July 23, 2026
In Spring 2025, Graphic Design students in the Design Consortium class from the Department of Arts, Culture and Media collaborated with the Newark City Parks Foundation to reimagine the organization’s visual identity—reflecting on the city’s five downtown parks and their role as shared spaces of gathering and connection.
The resulting citywide campaign—now visible across banners, calendars, and digital platforms—demonstrates how participatory design curricula can elevate public life through research, storytelling, and collaboration.
Student Design Team: Matheus Cueva, Liam L. Gunning, Estrellita G. Matheu Roca, Nikolas A. McLean, Daniela Murillo-Cifuentes, David Ostrovski, Mansi Patel, Jasmin Perez, Kaviyan Ravindrakumar, Jean Weekes, Camilla Zarzuela. Led by Visiting Professor Rebecca Pauline Jampol.Newark City Parks Foundation: Marcy DePina, Marie Thompson, Tawana Meck, and Mouna Musa.
PURE JOY
Curated by: Adrienne Wheeler and Cheyenne Ceasar for Newark Arts
Location: 3rd Floor, Paul Robeson Galleries
On View: October 9 – November 26, 2025
Pure Joy, Newark Arts’ inaugural group exhibition at Paul Robeson Galleries @ Express Newark, celebrates Newark Arts Festival 2025 and features over 70 visual artists responding to the festival call to explore joy as a creative force. The exhibition features a wide range of works, including bold paintings, film, and mixed-media pieces that celebrate joy as a vehicle of cultural and community resilience.
Featured Artists: Judyann Affronti, Happiness Akaniro, Rachel Fawn Alban, Kervin Andre, Yasmine Barboza, Josephine Barreiro, Tanisha Best (Dear Newark), Tasha Branham, Cathleen McCoy Bristol, Allison V. Brown, Laia Cabrera, Doris Cacoilo, Simone Bailey Campbell, Davion Cattrell, Michael Dal Cerro, Stella Chang, Sandra Charlap, Gwen Charles, Caren King Choi, Irene Christensen, Patricia Dahlman, Lionel Daniels, Steven “Stevo” Darius, Cat Delett, Isabelle Duverger, Margaret EI, Giovanna Eley, Kiarra Elliott (Afrocentric Keyy), Antoinette Ellis-Williams, Maria Estrela, Ricardo Osmondo Francis, Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon, Juan Carlos Giraldo, Jaz Graf, Alexander Guzman, Beth Heit, Kim Hill, Musa Hixson, Samar Hussaini, David James, Veda Kagabo (Veda), Emily Konopinski, Danté Maurice Laughlin, Laura Lou Levy, Joshua López, Kween Moore, Carole Moore, Kelly Niceley, Modupe Odusote, Olaniyi Omotayo, Suliman Onque, Samad Onque, Yvonne Onque, David Christopher Orrell Jr., Leo de Paula, Lillian Ribeiro, Alexandra Romero, Tatum Sabin, Theda Sandiford, Ameerah Shabazz, Onnie Strother, Nette Forné Thomas, Bleriot Thompson, Vazquez, Ann Vollum, Monifa Kincaid, Nijah Mentor, Evelyn Tejeda, Cecelia Mitchell and Andréa Ward, Yan Wei, Anker West, Heather Williams, NiChelle Williams, Juno Zago.
Grounds of Memory: Self-Portraits in Senegal
Artists: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Location: 3rd Floor, SHINE Portrait Studio, Changing Room
On View: October 9 – November 26, 2025
Presents self-portraits made in landscapes shaped by beauty, resistance, and memory, reflecting on twenty-five years of the artist’s engagement with Senegal. Commemorating Aline Sitoe Diatta, Omar Ibn Said, and Mama Casset, the work positions photography as both witness and participant in the layered histories of Africa and its diaspora.
Subtle Centers
Artists: Dahlia Elsayed & Andrew Demirjian
Location: 3rd Floor, Box Gallery
On View: Extended through July 23, 2026
This immersive installation meditates on the permeability between interiorities and exteriorities, prompting visitors to imagine a space between the physical and spiritual worlds. Transforming the Box Gallery into an invented outdoor courtyard featuring mirrored reflection, moving sounds, and tangible objects, the work invites greater comprehension and interpretation of the immaterial.
Sacred Rugs: Contemplation, Hope, Resilience
Curated by: Anthony Alvarez and Dahlia Elsayed
Location: 3rd Floor, Windows Gallery
On View: Extended through November 26, 2025
This exhibition showcases the work of fourteen Rutgers students who, guided by Dahlia Elsayed’s artistic practice, designed and created new rugs as contemporary meditations on the prayer rug. The project encouraged students to consider the rug as a medium for contemplation, hope, and resilience, inspiring aesthetic futures that challenge fear and despair.
Featured Artists: Christeen Abdelshahied, Carmelle Alexis, Caylie Baker, Brit Derilus, Victor Elizondo-Martinez, Bryan Euvin, Amber Evans, Daniel Flores, David Gonzalez, Jazmyne Johnson, Vylette Mcknight, Aasiyah Rogers, Sonam Salvi, and Imani Southerland.