Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility

Express Newark presents Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility as part of Black Portraiture[s] VII: Play & Performance Conference.

Opening Panel: Join the online discussion on Thursday, February 17, for Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility. Learn more and register for the panel discussion.

The Exhibition

Location: Express Newark, 54 Halsey Street Newark, NJ 07102

Comprising all three main exhibition floors of Express Newark at Rutgers University-Newark, this international exhibition restages intimate Black girl coming-of-age narratives made in the reifying lens of Black women and genderqueer artists and the real-time experiences and perspectives of Black girls themselves. The images made by Black women photographers and filmmakers are placed alongside those made by Black girls. The result is a disruption of traditional art world hierarchies and a centering of Black girls as subjects, artists, and agents of their own lives. 

The event features over 180 works by over 72 Black women, girls, and genderqueer artists - ranging in age from 8 to 94 - who work in the mediums of photography and film and are exploring the concept of Black girlhood. Among the 30 artists are Carrie Mae Weems, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Lorraine O’Grady, Lola Flash, Sophia Nahli Allison, Deborah Roberts, and Tawny Chatmon.

Picturing Black Girlhood: Moments of Possibility was curated by Scheherazade Tillet and Zoraida Lopez-Diago. 

Seventh Annual Black Portraiture[s[: Play and Performance Conference
This event is part of the Black Portraiture[s]: Play and Performance, the seventh annual Black Portraiture[s] Conference from Thursday, February 17 to Saturday, February 19, 2022. The three-day conference explores the theme of play and performance in past and contemporary African diasporic art and performance and will conclude with a series of groundbreaking keynote conversations for the 42nd Annual Marion Thompson Wright Lecture at the Newark Museum of Art.