(NEWARK, NJ) -- The City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Clinton Hill Community Action (CHCA), hosted a community reception for "The Artist's Role," a permanent photo exhibit open to the public at the newly opened William Mobile Ashby Community Care and Training Center at 695 Bergen Street in Newark.
The event showcased photography by local artists curated by the Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs to create a welcoming environment that encourages community engagement.
The exhibit features community portraits by photographers Akintola Hanif, Amandla Baraka, Bikier Hayes, Chrystofer Davis, Edil Irizarry, Tamara Fleming, and Tobias Truvillion.
The reception featured a live poetry reading by Newark-based poet MiaX and remarks by the featured photographers.
CHCA Deputy Director of Programs Rhenotha Whitaker spoke to the audience about the importance of art within Clinton Hill because of the joy it brings to the community. She also noted that "this work is crucial because it represents a collaborative effort between the community, law enforcement, and the city. Together, we are ensuring that genuine neighborhood revitalization is taking place."
The role that artists play within a community was the central theme of the event.
Amiri, an event goer in attendance to support his friend and photographer Bikier Hayes, emphasized the role of photography in showing the true nature of the people of Newark. He pointed out that people outside of Newark “paint a picture of how we look as a community, but photographers within the community can reshape it by taking certain pictures that change how we see [the community].”
Edil Irizarry, a 13-year veteran Newark firefighter and featured photographer, explained how the photographs in the exhibit “help showcase how vibrant, how colorful” Newark is. “Nothing is the same, but we’re all together because Newark is Newark. Newark understands Newark.”
Another featured photographer, Tamara Fleming, reflected on how her photography “gives me the opportunity to be more vocal and more connected with people… As a photographer you are encouraged to speak, to vocalize, to direct, as well as to encourage the people that you photograph.”
The title of the exhibit, “The Artist’s Role” is a nod to a quote by the late Newark Poet Laureate Amiri Baraka displayed on the building: “The artist's role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world and themselves more completely.”
The William Mobile Ashby Community Care and Training Center opened last March with a vision to operate as a shared space that gives residents and public safety workers a place to deepen their connections. The facility features a 470-seat state of the art auditorium and multiple classrooms that community groups can utilize.
Due to state-mandated safety requirements for police training, use of the facility by community groups will be coordinated and scheduled through the building’s manager, Proposals related to social justice, violence prevention, trauma-informed art workshops, and health and wellness are suggested.
In addition to showcasing local artistic talent, the reception highlighted how the surrounding community can make use of space within the Center. Clinton Hill Community Action is eager to continue programming at the training center and will share the work they are doing in the South Ward.
“At Clinton Hill Community Action we are dedicated to building a platform for cultural and artistic expression that creates solutions, transforms spaces and enhances the pride of the people,” said CHCA Executive Director Khaatim Sherrer El. “Art is a tool for advocacy that is a thread that will weave together a stronger, more connected community with an increased quality of life for all our residents.”
The 100,000 square foot center is named in honor of the late civil rights leader and New Jersey’s first Black social worker, William Mobile Ashby. The facility is a shared space used to train social workers, outreach workers, and police officers and firefighters.
Clinton Hill Community Action (CHCA) partners with residents to revitalize the Clinton Hill neighborhood and Newark’s South Ward to ensure that development is equitable and just, and advocate for what the community needs and deserves. CHCA is also partnered with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) on the NJPAC ArtsXChange program in the South Ward bringing resources to the South Ward neighborhood in the form of performance events, artist workshops, classes and more,
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