Exhibitions
From the First Note: Developing Icons, 2026
Artist: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Location: 4th Floor Express Newark
On View: Ongoing
From the First Note: Developing Icons re-examines the mid-century landscape of jazz through a layered reimagining of archival photography. By honoring the tactile, physical process of analog film—surfacing 35mm and 120 medium format negatives, slide transparencies, darkroom prints, loupes, light leaks, and exposed film sprockets—this series makes visible the material history of photographic memory: how Black genius was seen, framed, preserved, and illuminated.
A Grandassa Sunday, 2026
Artist: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Location: 4th Floor Express Newark
On View: Ongoing
A Grandassa Sunday honors the legacy of the African Jazz-Art Society & Studios (AJASS) and the Grandassa Models, whose Naturally shows helped define the “Black Is Beautiful” movement. On May 31, 2026, artist Laylah Amatullah Barrayn photographed eighteen original and next-generation Grandassa Models at SHINE Portrait Studio, Express Newark, connecting this history with contemporary portraiture. Pictured together above, original Grandassa Models Nana Ama Tanks, Adzua Barbara Solomon, and Sikolo Brathwaite embody a living legacy of sisterhood, natural beauty, and Black self-determination across generations.
ÉXITO, 2026
Artist: Chantal Fischzang
Location: 2nd Floor Express Newark
On View: Ongoing
Modeled after the familiar visual language of an EXIT sign, transforms a symbol of departure into a declaration of possibility— meaning “success” in Spanish. Inspired by a childhood memory of the artist’s daughter and a poetic mistranslation of EXIT as the work reframes passage as movement toward opportunity, belonging, and aspiration. As a large-scale neon installation at Express Newark, honors the journeys of students, immigrants, artists, and visitors, offering a luminous invitation to step forward toward positive futures.
The Good News is not Delivered from Mountaintops but in Clearings, 2026
Artist: Ayana V. Jackson
Location: 2nd Floor Express Newark
On View: Through July 9, 2027
The Good News is not Delivered from Mountaintops but in Clearings (2026) is the newest work in Ayana V. Jackson’s ongoing series, “You Forgot To See Me Coming.” Developed while in residency at Express Newark, this work continues the artist’s exploration into the lives of Black and mestiza women who asserted themselves across social and geographic boundaries despite racial prejudice.
Image courtesy of the artist and Mariane Ibrahim (Chicago, Paris, Mexico City).
Artist: Ayana V. Jackson
Location: 2nd Floor Express Newark
On View: Through July 9, 2027
During her 2025–2026 residency at Express Newark’s Form Design Studio, the artist expanded her practice into three-dimensional sculpture, experimenting with 3D printing, aluminum etching, sand casting, and plaster relief at scales ranging from miniature to monumental. Working alongside Form Design Studio’s Keary Rosen, and Alessandra Puglisi, students, and Newark-based designer Marco Hall, she developed projects including a 3D-printed lace garment and a sculptural bust that became a central focus of the residency. A selection of these experiments and evolving works will be on view at Express Newark this year.
Between the Trees and the Thicket: A Grove of Knowledge, 2026
Artist: Shoshanna Weinberger
Location: 2nd Floor Express Newark
On View: Ongoing
Between the Trees and the Thicket: A Grove of Knowledge transforms the Lecture Hall into an immersive landscape where nature, architecture, memory, and the exchange of ideas converge. Inspired by the canopy of Newark’s Branch Brook Park and the rhythms of the city’s built environment, the installation uses striped patterns, branching forms, and shifting colors to evoke a grove—a place of gathering, contemplation, and connection. With a quiet homage to Paul Robeson and his celebrated performance of Joyce Kilmer’s Trees, the work imagines the university as a living ecosystem in which knowledge is cultivated through shared histories, relationships, and exchange.
FERVOR, 2026
Artist: Raul Ayala
Location: 3rd Floor, SHINE Portrait Studio
On View: Through July 9, 2027
A photographic backdrop installation. “In Fervor, seeds, flowers, and spices from the Ecuadorian Andes are reimagined within a geometric composition designed as a site of transformation. The backdrop draws conceptual inspiration from chicha fermentation, framing this traditional process as a metaphor for cultivating belonging, grounding oneself, and resisting the systemic alienation of our time and space. Here, the visual landscape becomes an active domain of self-determination for diasporic communities.
FOCUS, 2026
Artist: Anthony Alvarez & Chantal Fischzang
Location: 2nd Floor, Lobby
On View: Through July 9, 2027
This installation brings together images made by Prof. Anthony Alvarez and students from the Studio Photography class, creating portraits of participants in FOCUS Hispanic Center for Community Development, Inc.’s older adult program. The program provides seniors with comprehensive services in a caring environment that promotes wellness, independence, and social connection. Through portraiture, the project creates a space for participants to be seen as individuals with rich histories, experiences, and contributions to their communities. These portraits center the themes of legacy and family, inviting participants to reflect on the people and stories that have shaped their lives while celebrating the long standing presence and diversity of the Hispanic community here in Newark, NJ.
The project is rooted in a collaboration with Prof. Chantal Fischzang and students in the Design Consortium class, who are working with FOCUS on a brand refresh. Together, the photography and design projects explore how visual identity can communicate the cultural richness of the organization and the people it serves. These portraits are images that honor the individual while connecting personal stories to larger narratives of family, migration, resilience, cultural identity, and belonging. By bringing students into direct collaboration with FOCUS participants, the project creates an intergenerational exchange by which photography becomes a tool for listening, storytelling, and a celebration of the legacy of the Hispanic community and the families whose histories continue to shape our community.
Disco Calypso, 2026
Artist: Kevin Darmanie
Location: 3rd Floor, Box Gallery.
On View: Through July 9, 2027
In Disco Calypso, Kevin Darmanie explores the ongoing exchange between Caribbean and American cultural expression through an immersive installation combining video, painting, pattern, sound, and live DJ performances. Centered on a Trinidad Carnival masquerader moving through the streets of Newark, the work traces how Carnival’s music, fashion, dance, and pageantry shaped—and were reshaped by—disco culture of the 1970s and 1980s. Disco Calypso also considers the tensions within this cultural exchange, asking how art and celebration can both bridge and obscure ethnic, economic, and political differences.
I AM. YOU ARE. WE ARE.
FREE TO SPEAK. PROTEST. DISSENT.
DESIGN CONSORTIUM & ACLU OF NEW JERSEY
Exhibition Design: Jennifer Bernstein, Associate Professor, Creative Director & Designer, Liam L. Gunning, Lead Designer, Chantal Fischzang, Associate Professor Design Consultant
Location: Express Newark Lobby
On View: Through July 9, 2027
This exhibition grew from a year-long partnership between the Design Consortium (DC) and the ACLU of New Jersey. The DC is a student/faculty creative studio at Express Newark, shaped by a collaboratively engaged design process, and an integral part of the Graphic Design Program in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media.
Rooted in Newark’s legacy of civil rights advocacy and the arts, the exhibition explores how design can help people understand, exercise, and protect their constitutional rights. Across two semesters, the partners explored communication as a process of meaning-making shaped through dialogue, participation, and shared experience, using design-driven research and co-building to generate new ideas, language, messaging, and forms of dissemination.
Bringing together work developed throughout the collaboration with new installations and participatory experiences created specifically for this exhibition, the work presented encourages reflection, conversation, and civic engagement. Visitors are invited to consider not only the constitutional rights explored here, but also the role communication plays in shaping how those rights are understood, exercised, and defended.
Your rights are here.
Know them. Protect them.
Design Consortium Team:
Faculty Lead: Associate Professor Jennifer Bernstein; Student Team: Emily M. Anderson, Nigeria K. Brown, James Dixon, Ashley Escobal, Elizabeth Frias, Liam L. Gunning, Helen E. Jaramillo, Jazmyne T Johnson, Ravin R. Melville, Alyssandre E. Mertz, David M. Ostrovski, Brandon Patino, Francesca I. Rainuzzo, Anthony J. Ramos-Oliveira, Kaviyan Ravindrakumar, Yulisbeth Rojas-Romero, Adriana B. Salazar, Kamara Smith, Trenton K. Soto, Jean Weekes
ACLU of New Jersey Communications Team: Maia Raposo, Communications DirectorPaloma L. Aguas, Deputy Communications DirectorMary Del Plato, Digital Communications Strategist
ON PURPOSE
Curated by: Adrienne Wheeler for Newark Arts
Location: 3rd Floor, Paul Robeson Galleries
On View: Through October 31, 2026
Newark Arts Festival: 25 Years. On Purpose. For 25 years, Newark Arts Festival has brought artists, institutions, and communities together across the city. As New Jersey’s largest and longest-running arts festival, the 2026 anniversary celebrates the artists, ideas, and cultural leadership shaping Newark today.
Artifactual Echoes: “Jazz” in Their Own Words
Curated by: Elizabeth Surles, Institute of Jazz Studies
Curatorial Intern: Timothy A. Brown
Paul Robeson Galleries: Isha Apalisol, Anonda Bell, Karen Bernard, Matthew Farrell, Bryant Lebron, German Pitre, Omar Saad, Dimoy Wilson, Juno Zago
Location: 3rd Floor, Windows Gallery
On View: Through October 31, 2026
Reprising Express Newark’s inaugural exhibition Records at Play, this adaptation of the original brings back a selection of jazz treasures from Rutgers-Newark’s own Institute of Jazz Studies. Using words from musicians represented in Institute collections, the exhibition considers “jazz,” its history, and its future.
Past Exhibitions [2025-2026]
Image courtesy of Anthony Alvarez and Nick Kline (2026)
DRAWING ROOM
Location: 3rd Floor, Main Gallery, Paul Robeson Gallery @ Express Newark
On View: Through July 23, 2026
Inspired by historic drawing rooms—short for “withdrawing room”—this installation transforms the gallery into a contemporary space for reflection, conversation, and creative exchange. Rooted in social sculpture – art shaped through collective participation- Drawing Room bridges campus and community where the art studio meets the luxury living space.
From January through July 2026, the gallery hosts free, public programs including Thursday-evening life drawing classes (6-9PM), as well as monthly live music, performances, and hands-on-workshops. During open hours, visitors are also invited to sketch, relax, or simply settle in. Throughout the season, the gallery walls will gradually fill with drawings from Drawing Circle, classes led by Rutgers professor and muralist Layqa Nuna Yawar, reflecting a rich multiplicity of voices and perspectives.
Click here to learn about ongoing Drawing Room events.
For more information or space requests, contact: Pat Sweeting, Administrative Coordinator, Express Newark, pas260@newark.rutgers.edu | 973-353-0791
Drawing Circle
Created by: Layqa Nuna Yawar
Location: Express Newark Paul Robeson Gallery
On View: Through July 23, 2026
Drawing Circle is a weekly, all-levels life-drawing workshop held inside the Paul Robeson art gallery at Express Newark, inviting participants to draw from a live model in a supportive, communal setting. As a featured program within Drawing Room, drawings created during each session are installed on the walls of the gallery, gradually activating the space throughout the season, and becoming part of an evolving exhibition shaped by collective learning and practice.
Touching the Earth
Curated by: Yvonne Shirley
Location: Express Newark Lobby
On View: Through July 23, 2026
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, Raymond Spencer.
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 Moussa.
Grounds of Memory: Self-Portraits in Senegal
Artists:Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Location:3rd Floor, SHINE Portrait Studio, Changing Room
On View: Contact SHINE for details
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.
Image courtesy of Anthony Alvarez (2026)
The Ground Beneath Us: A Collective Inquiry from the Problems in Contemporary Art Course
Curated by: Anthony Alvarez
Location: 3rd Floor, Windows Gallery
On View: Through July 23, 2026
The Ground Beneath Us brings together work developed in the Problems in Contemporary Art course led by Anthony Alvarez, shaped by close looking, sustained research, and an ethic of presence inspired by artist-in-residence Laylah Amatullah Barrayn, approaching photography as a gesture of listening rather than extraction. The exhibition considers identity as relational and shifting—formed through land, memory, migration, and lived experience—and invites viewers to slow down and feel the ground they stand on, move through, and carry with them.
Featured Artists: Samuel Akintaju, Ellen S. Bayas, Leonardo Silva Serra De Paula, Rayshell Goff, Diana Jimenez, Michell Jimenez, Israel “Izzy” Rodriguez, Jammie Senario, Benjy Shaulov, Giovanna Simpson, Florence Sobanjo, Lauren Surrency, lmani White, Silvia Wiggins, Camilla Zarzuela