(NEWARK, NJ) -- Gallery Aferro is a platform for the exchange of ideas in service of advancing human dignity and beauty, with a focus on visual arts as the vehicle. Located in Newark, the gallery opens three exhibits on October 5: The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project featuring the Quilts of Angola Prison; Still Living Out Loud: Geri Hahn, and Elevator Music 6: SilvaGunner.

The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project featuring the Quilts of Angola Prison; Curated by Maureen Kelleher.  The exhibit runs from October 5 - November 22, 2019 in the Gallery Aferro Main Gallery. Artists include Etienne, Maureen Kelleher, Kenya, Ramsey Orta, Dr. Mutulu Shakur, Sharif, Teresa, and Zulu. 

Artist and private investigator Maureen Kelleher has curated an ongoing collaboration between individuals incarcerated  at Louisiana State Penitentiary and elsewhere, alongside free civilians, which utilizes more than 50 handmade quilts of impressively varying scale, evocative musical accompaniment, and experiential narratives from inside Angola, to connect two worlds.

Kelleher’s skills have been instrumental in helping exonerate 3 men off Louisiana’s death row, in addition to assisting the renowned justice reform organization, The Innocence Project, on a non-DNA case to aid in the release of an innocent man with a life sentence. She has crafted a showcase that includes music from artists such as Irma Thomas, Delfeayo Marsalis, Cat Power, and the Venerable Robina Courtin, with endorsements from Harriet Tubman scholar Dr. Kate Clifford-Larson and others.

The original fabric art created by the hands of inspiring artists, including members of the Louisiana State Penitentiary Hospice Program; Dr. Mutulu Shakur, the godfather of Tupac Shakur; and Ramsey Orta, the man who recorded the death of Eric Garner, will grace Newark-based, artist-run Gallery Aferro’s main space, creating an immersive environment for affirming our collective humanity.

Still Living Out Loud: Geri Hahn; Curated by Evonne M. Davis. The exhibit runs from October 5 - November 22, 2019 in the Eleta J. Caldwell and Rodney M. Gilbert Memorial Gallery. People “come out” at different times in life, for different reasons revealing diverse secrets. Geri Hahn’s secret was that she was an artist. For the first 68 years of her life, none but family ever saw her drawings or her artwork. She is now a 74-year-old self-taught artist whose work is biomorphic, geometric and super-brightly colored. Hahn taught herself to work with fabric and thread, and now her art is created with hand-sewn and embroidered silk and linen with elements of shiny metallic floss.

The pieces exhibited represent three basic categories of pattern recognition: sounds, words, and emotions. Hahn's ability to recognize patterns is enabled by her neurological hard wiring: She is a “synesthete.” Synesthesia is simply the human experience of when one sense is activated, another unrelated sense is activated at the same time. Hahn “sees” every single sound she hears. Sounds are experienced as patterns of color, texture and concrete elements that exist in the physical world. Patterns in speech and emotions or feelings of her physical senses also serve as creative inspiration. Yes, her secret is out, and she is still living out loud.

Elevator Music 6: SilvaGunner; Curated by Juno Zago.  The exhibit runs from October 5 - November 22, 2019. Step inside a refurbished vintage Otis elevator and enjoy video game music remixes by audio artist Dashiell Hastings-Ward, part of SilvaGunner. SiIvaGunner is a YouTube channel collaborative featuring numerous artists uploading thousands of remixes of video game music, advertising them as the original tracks. The remixes can range from well known pop songs to obscure inside jokes, and even original compositions. Requests are accepted online.

There will be an opening reception for these exhibits on October 5 from 7:00-10:00pm at Gallery Aferro,  73 Market Street in Newark.  Gallery hours are Weds-Sat 12:00pm-6:00 and by appt.

Gallery Aferro gratefully acknowledges the support of their funders and the individual donors who make our programs possible: The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Newark Arts, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and RBH Group.

Images: (TOP) "Red, White & Baldwin©" by Maureen Kelleher and Kenya

(MIDDLE) “Deep Listening: Thank You Pauline Oliveros” by Geri Hahn