About this Event
This Artist Roundtable brings together photographers Cesar Melgar, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Terry Boddie, and Daniel Daswon, along with Manuel Acevedo and Salamishah Tillet, to discuss making work in and about Newark, documenting communities and neighborhoods through periods of change, and the relationships among photography, memory, and place. Spanning generations and approaches to image-making, the panel will explore how artists have witnessed, interpreted, and contributed to Newark’s evolving visual and cultural history. The conversation will be followed by a guided tour of the Wards of Newark West Ward installation at Akwabba Gallery.
Free Guided Tour to Follow. Light refreshments will be served.
Wards of Newark: Manuel Acevedo is a citywide public art exhibition featuring black-and-white photographs of Newark, taken from 1982 to 1987, by the multidisciplinary artist and Newark native Manuel Acevedo. Curated by Salamishah Tillet, Director of New Arts at Rutgers University—Newark, “Wards of Newark” is located across the five wards, West, South, Central, North, and East, and offers a new map of the city’s past vitality and current diversity.
Hosted as a partnership between Rutgers University—Newark and the City of Newark, “Wards of Newark” features large-scale billboards and murals at key sites in the city:
- West Ward: Former Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewery, 588 South Orange Ave
- South Ward: Soundstage Park, 450 Clinton Ave
- Central Ward: Rutgers University/Halsey Street, 5 Linden Street
- North Ward: Essex County Branch Brook Park (Near the Roller-Skating Rink)
- East Ward: Riverfront Park, 871 Raymond Blvd
Manuel Acevedo, BMX Crew (After the Puerto Rican Day Parade),1986
Wards of Newark is curated by Dr. Salamishah Tillet, Distinguished Professor and New Arts Faculty Director, and features works by Manuel Acevedo, New Arts Artist-in-Residence at Express Newark. Additional support is provided by fayemi shakur, Director of Newark’s Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs, and Rebecca Jampol, Public Arts Manager and Co-Director of Project for Empty Space.
The exhibition is presented by Rutgers University—Newark, in partnership with Newark’s Department of Arts and Cultural Affairs. Additionally, the Ford Foundation, Emerson Collective, and A Long Walk Home have provided generous support for this exhibition.
We extend our sincere gratitude to the many partners, collaborators, and community members whose expertise, care, and dedication made Wards of Newark possible, including:
- Branch Brook Park Alliance
- The Chancellor’s Office, Rutgers—Newark
- Crown Bank
- Essex County Department of Parks
- The Hanini Group
- The Honors Living-Learning Community at Rutgers—Newark
- Newark City Parks Foundation, Inc.
- Newark’s Department of Recreation, Cultural Affairs & Senior Services
- Oak Ridge LLC
- School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers—Newark
About New Arts
Founded by faculty member Dr. Salamishah Tillet in 2018, New Arts is a public art studio in Express Newark dedicated to art and social practice. New Arts collaborates with community, university, and municipal partners to create public projects powered by art’s relationship to place, social justice, and civic engagement in Newark and beyond.
About Manuel Acevedo
Acevedo, Bronx-based multidisciplinary artist, began his career as a street photographer in Newark. His work combines photo-based imagery, conceptual graffiti ciphers, and architectonic visualizations that reflect the ever-shifting boundaries of diasporic communities within the urban landscape. Acevedo’s public art projects and site-based installations address the contested histories of shared spaces. His work is built on over forty years of practice, inspired by urban experiences in the United States and by city lore as a first-generation Puerto Rican artist.
About Rutgers University—Newark
Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, New Jersey's State University. It is a remarkably diverse, urban, public research university that is not just in Newark but of Newark—an anchor institution of our home city. We think of anchor institutions as place-based organizations that persist in their communities over generations, even in the face of substantial capital flight, serving as social glue, economic engines, or both.
Event venue & nearby stays
Akwaaba Gallery, 509 South Orange Avenue, Newark, United States
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