Blues People: Meet the Artists

Derrick Adams, Multimedia Artist
Based in Brooklyn, NY

Installation: The Holdout
Location: Main Gallery, Paul Robeson Galleries
Dates: Feb 20, 2024 – Jul 19, 2024

Mayor Ras Baraka
Newark, NJ

Presentation: Children of the Cosmos: A Public Conversation Between Mayor Ras Baraka and Dr. Kellie Jones
Location: Lecture Hall, Express Newark
Date: April 3, 2024

Adama Delphine Fawundu, Multi-disciplinary Photographer and Visual Artist
Based in Brooklyn, NY

Installation: Who We Be 
Location: Box Gallery
Dates: Feb 20, 2024 – Jul 19, 2024

Nikky Finney, Poet and Professor
Based in Columbia, South Carolina

Presentation: Aliveness and the Black Poem
Location: Lecture Hall, Express Newark
Date: March 7, 2024

Adebunmi Gbadebo, Multimedia Artist
Based in Philadelphia, PA

Installation: At the Bottom of the Atlantic Ocean There’s a Railroad Made of Human Bones
Location: Window Gallery
Dates: Feb 20, 2024 – Jul 19, 2024

Kellie Jones, Art Historian and Curator
Based in New York, NY

Presentation: Children of the Cosmos: A Public Conversation Between Mayor Ras Baraka and Dr. Kellie Jones
Location: Lecture Hall, Express Newark
Date: April 3, 2024

Jasmine Mans, Poet
Based in Newark, NJ

New Arts Poet in Residence
Dates: February 20, 2024 – March 7, 2024

Cesar Melgar, Photographer
Based in Newark, NJ

Installation: Newark Master Plan 
Location: Main Gallery, Paul Robeson Galleries
Dates: Feb 20, 2024 – Jul 19, 2024

Kevin Quashie, Poet and Professor
Based in Providence, RI

Presentation: Aliveness and the Black Poem
Location: Lecture Hall, Express Newark
Date: March 7, 2024

Guthrie Ramsey, Musician and Musicologist
Based in Philadelphia, PA

Presentation: Amiri’s Dream and the Blues Future of Negro Music
Location: 2nd Floor, Express Newark
Date: December 14, 2023

Accra Shepp, Photographer
Based in New York, NY

Installation: Occupying Wall Street and COVID-19 Journals
Location: 2nd Floor, Express Newark
Dates: Feb 20, 2024 – Jul 19, 2024

Tracy K. Smith, Poet and Professor
Based in Cambridge, MA

Presentation: Aliveness and the Black Poem
Location: Lecture Hall, Express Newark
Date: March 7, 2024

About Us

Express Newark is a center for socially engaged art and design in Newark, NJ where people co-create, collaborate, and make art for social change.

Supported by Rutgers University – Newark, Express Newark’s exhibitions, classes, and programs actively cultivate a dynamic, open, and welcoming space for artists of all ages.

Learn more about Express Newark

What's Happening

Inspired by Leroi Jones’s influential text, five newly commissioned art installations explore what it means to be “Blues People” in the twenty-first century. They will be on view until July 19, 2024. 

Learn More About the Exhibition

Public lectures and artist talks on the social-political topics and aesthetic themes inspired by the book, “Blues People.”

A series of musical, poetry, dance, and theater performances done in the spirit of “Blues People” — all free and open to the public.

Blues People

Press Kit

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