(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- The Visual Arts Gallery at New Jersey City University presents BURN: Origins & Resistance by Antoinette Ellis-Williams from January 31 through March 3, 2022.This is a multi-disciplinary project which rethinks and explores the many ways black women experience “Burn” (e.g. unemployment, appropriation, dismissal, isolation, gentrification, cooptation, physical and sexual abuse, exploitation, etc.) and simultaneously their unique agency to set things on "Fiya" (aka fire) and heal.

During her sabbatical from NJCU in Fall 2020, Antoinette Ellis-Williams began ethnographic research by interviewing 14 women, created new visual art and literary works to develop multimedia installations. Utilizing gender theories of intersectionality, black feminism, and healing paradigms, The BURN Project unpacks and explores some of the historical, sociopolitical, economic and cultural contexts in which black women suffer(ed) “Burn” locally, nationally and globally. All viewers are invited to tap into an individual memory of pain and recovery through a personal engagement with the work. 

There will be an Artist Talk on February 9 from 11:30am to 12:30pm (in-person and online; details to be announced).

Dr. Ellis-Williams is a Jamaican-born, mixed media artist, poet, playwright, filmmaker, and minister. She is the author of Black Gardenias: A Collection of Poems, Stories, & Sayings. Her one-woman play Scarf Diaries premiered at NJPAC in 2017. Her documentary film, Lee Hagan: Connecting Generations (2016) won best short documentary at the Newark Black Film Festival. Dr. Ellis-Williams is a highly sought after international public speaker. Her TEDx Talk, “Finding Justice in the Land of the Free” (2015) tried to unpack her immigrant status in America. As a visual artist, she recently exhibited at Akwaaba Gallery, Bridge Art Gallery, Newark Museum of Art, Prizm Art Fair in Miami with Calabar Gallery. Dr. Ellis-Williams earned her Ph.D. in Public Policy & Urban and Regional Planning at Cornell University and is Professor of Women’s & Gender Studies at New Jersey City University.

The Visual Arts Building, lower level, is located at 100 Culver Avenue in Jersey City, New Jersey. Gallery hours are Monday - Friday from 11:00am to 5:00pm and by appointment. All visitors and members of the University community who visit NJCU Galleries are required to wear a mask indoors and be prepared to show your proof of vaccination or negative test results (within the past 72 hours) to staff at any point during the visit. within the past 72 hours (Children aged 2-12 are not required to show the proof). View Protocols

The University requires all visitors to complete the CDC’s Self Health Check and sign a Visitor Log Form.

IMAGE: (from left to right): Red Sister Reflecting; Orange Leaves Sister; Fight the Power Sister, 2020, digital collage on canvas. All artwork © 2020 Antoinette Ellis-Williams