Armisey N. Smith

Newark Public Library Courtyard

Cherry Blossom Junction
Cherry blossoms, an enduring symbol of Newark, glow against a deep indigo that symbolizes excellence, devotion, wisdom, and justice. Undulating lines connect to figures that represent Newark's diversity of communities as they make their various, unique pilgrimages to the neighborhoods they will end up settling in. Throughout the courtyard, cherry blossom chairs will allow visitors to sit, congregating together in a community of their own.

IMVisible

FOCUS Hispanic Center for Community Development Facade Installation

Code Glitched
"Code-glitching" is a proud reclaiming and reformulation of code-switching, the practice of shifting languages to fit into a particular culture or circumstance.

“The norms we've learned in order to navigate uncharted spaces do not have to erase our inner truths. When we accept that our full selves exist outside of binaries and social expectations, we allow ourselves to become an alternate reality—a more empowered reality, in which our multicultural and multilingual present form the future of our identities. In this way, we become the ‘glitch’ that redefines the social matrix.” - ImVisible

Produced in collaboration with the FOCUS Hispanic Center, this mural honors and amplifies the often-underappreciated creativity, resilience, and power behind multicultural identities.

Ron Norsworthy

Audible Cafe Murals + Lighting Installation

Norkaleidoscope
This mural stretching across Audible's cafe wall interprets the Newark skyline as if viewed through a kaleidoscope. “Norkaleidoscope" is a mash-up of a dialectical pronunciation of Newark, “Nork,” and “kaleidoscope.” The concept of a kaleidoscope is especially useful in describing how a new view can emerge from combining different views or perspectives. Though city skylines are typically depicted from a single, static viewpoint, this work responds to the dynamic diversity of Newark’s architecture and citizenry by exuberantly capturing the ever-changing vistas, sights, and natural beauty that can be experienced while moving through this vibrant city.

Eirini Linardaki

Fortress of Solitude Facade Installation

Cosmic Microwave Background
The title of this collage refers to a form of light that persists from the explosive event that formed the universe, depicted here in the patterned fabrics of the many cultures that have called Newark home. From the blast, superheroes emerge—created from the silhouettes of kids, from Newark and beyond, who volunteered to be part of this special project—inviting an awe-filled, wondrous appreciation for the rich history, endurance, and creative power of the city and its people.

Yasmin De Jesus

Audible Lobby Mural

Newark Voices
In this mural, a male and female of color gaze out in opposite directions as they listen, through headphones, to the sound of Newark voices. What they hear is represented by written words that surround the individuals, encouraging us to connect with others through storytelling and listening. This work reminds us that it is vitally important that we hear the stories of those who have been historically silenced.

Noelle Lorraine Williams

Westinghouse Site Intervention

Monumental Newark: Reimagined Sites of 19th Century Newark
Black Abolitionist Historical Monuments Reimagined
Located on what used to be known as Plane Street, where, in the nineteenth century, free and enslaved African Americans fought for their rights. Icons like Frederick Douglass delivered speeches to the Black community here, and Samuel Cornish, co-editor of the country’s first African American newspaper, worked as an activist and pastor. Hannah Mandeville, freed from her enslaver in Jersey City, moved to Newark to become a member and fundraiser at the Plane Street Colored Church on this street. Angelina Grimke, a legendary anti-slavery feminist, and author Harriet Beecher Stowe’s brother, Charles Beecher, attended anti-slavery meetings only blocks away. Plane Street was the heart of the free Black community in Newark.

Adama Delphine Fawundu

Audible Lobby Video Installation

Wata Bodis
This abstract video collage blends together international and local water bodies, human body forms, West African fabrics, and symbols representing Newark's contemporary and Indigenous histories. Mesmerizing images of the Atlantic Ocean, Newark Bay, The Hudson River, and Sierra Leone's Mano River are interwoven with depictions of the Lenni-Lenape medicine wheel, Newark Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka's drawings, and fabrics hand-dyed by the artist’s grandmother, symbolically making space for a radical imagination: a sustainable and healthy Earth, along with a humane and equitable future for all.

Melisa Gerecci

Audible Cafe Mural

City Feast
These hand-drawn images depict the vast array of dishes and cuisines found in Newark eateries. Home to a diverse immigrant population, our city offers flavors from all over the world: Dominican Republic, Korea, Ecuador, Portugal, Burkina Faso, Brazil, and more. This mural inspires the viewer to seek out opportunities to try the dishes pictured, and in doing so, meet the people who are bringing these traditions to Newark.

Hans Lundy & Malcolm Rolling of YENDOR

Newark Public Library Annex Mural

Souvenir de la voix
“Souvenir de la voix" means "the recollection of voices." This mural evokes the way oral histories carry cultural and generational knowledge throughout the African diaspora. A young girl joyfully laughs while listening to the sounds of her ancestors—above the girl, her grandfather plays a drum while her grandmother, eyes filled with wisdom, looks toward the future. At one edge, a younger version of the girl is getting her hair braided, an African tradition that symbolizes nurturing strength and resilience. Newly sprouting trees take hold in the center, resembling the growth of a people in a new place.