Next week, a painting I completed in 2017 (around the time I decided I would pursue a path in visual arts), will be on view at El Barrio’s Artspace PS109 in "Let's Face the Music...a dance inspired exhibition."

The painting is an homage portrait of distinguished independent performing artist Loretta Abbott who passed in 2016 at 83 yrs old. It was inspired by a still from a Dance/NYC 2015 support video, “Loretta Abbott: New Yorkers for Dance (Upper Manhattan),” in which Abbott shares her conviction in the importance of dance to “the mind, body and soul.”

Loretta Abbott was beloved in NYC and in particular by her friends/family/community at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts where she was a founding member. "Let's Face the Music...a dance inspired exhibition" is presented by a group of dancers, musicians, choreographers and dance lovers dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of the Clark Center NYC.

Come to the opening if you're free and able!

El Barrio Artspace PS109

215 E. 99th Street, New York, NY

Opening Reception: Tuesday, June 18 at 6PM

On view: June 18 - June 30

Gallery Hours: M-F, 12PM to 8PM | S-S 12PM to 6PM

Art-making Workshop: Saturday, June 22 | 12PM - 2PM

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 23 | 2PM

All ages, Free

IMAGE: Caribbean American artists Devin Osorio and Tania L. Balan-Gaubert transform the Lefferts Historic House front porch into a Caribbean veranda with a multimedia installation. Photo credit Pablo Serrano.

June is Caribbean American Heritage Month! I’m participating in a two-person installation with CaribBeing at the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park. Stop by the house if you’re in Brooklyn, NY and join the celebration with month-long programming + events.

< Check out the calendar and learn more

On view: June 1–30
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 6 | 4–6pm

Closing Reception: Sunday, June 30 | 2-4pm
All ages, Free​

IMAGE: Pirkle Jones. Black Panthers drilling before Free Huey Rally, DeFremery Park, Oakland, CA, #23 from A Photographic Essay on The Black Panthers. © Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz.

The San Francisco Art Institute in conjunction with the University of California, Santa Cruz will exhibit the photographic essay, BLACK PANTHERS, 1968 by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones. Initially shown at San Francisco's DeYoung Museum from December 1968 through February 1969, this show will coincide with the 50-year anniversary of its original exhibition; which in its controversy in 1968 made the DeYoung “relevant” to a broader community some 50 years ago. The work is still pertinent today and will serve as a platform to discuss issues of documentary photography, social activism, and how the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s in many ways manifests itself in the social context of today.

Poetic Politics and Black Futures is a living archive of political possibilities. Artists Kija Lucas, Tosha Stimage, 5/5 Collective, and Chris Martin present a range of creative and radical resistance. Working in concert with the archival photographs, this exhibition of contemporary work assembles a new understanding of the Black political imagination. To disrupt the assumption that activism need to be aggressive or didactic, they employ symbolism associated with Black radical traditions, making space for nuance and complexity.

< Read full exhibition statement

On View: January 22–April 7
Opening Reception: January 26 | 5–8pm

cover art by Bushmama Africa.

Sibyl #3 is on her way to Cali for her first west coast show, "The Black Woman is God: Divine Revolution." And I can't tell you how excited i am! the spirit behind this exhibition is essentially why I started the Sibyl Series - a reclamation, a healing, a subversion of eurocentric and patriarchal notions of the divine, a testimony and a protest that #theblackwomanisgod.

Co-Curated by Karen Seneferu and Melorra Green the show opens to the public July 20, 6pm-10pm at SOMArts Cultural Center.

Learn more about the exhibition and participating artists here.