"CONTEMPORARY PEACEMAKER: WAVES OF CHANGE"

 "CONTEMPORARY PEACEMAKER: WAVES OF CHANGE"

Godspeed to you all.

Have you visited the gallery exhibit in Benjamin J. Dineen, III, and Dennis C. Hull Gallery on 71 Sip Avenue Jersey City, NJ on the 6th floor of Hudson County Community College library? Well, you need to check it as soon as possible, the exhibit they have out is called  "CONTEMPORARY PEACEMAKER: WAVES OF CHANGE", it is about some of the movements that have happened throughout the history of America, and the people that caused the changed that was necessary.  This exhibit presents the peacemakers through the history that revisioned America. They fought for equal rights and against racism. There is also the LGBTQ movement, BLACK LIVES MATTER movement and more shown around the gallery. The show displays other pieces given by Goya as well as an interactive word display created by the Poetry and Language Collective, Museum of Jersey City History, and the National Honors Society at McNair High School, among others.

Starting in the gallery we see a display of the mass incarceration of minorities in the United States, this display is primarily about the women that are incarcerated who suffer from sexual violence, domestic abuse, and addiction. There is a writing piece by Jasmine Brown called “Acceptance” beautifully talks about how even though we do not put acceptance into actions and blame the things that happen to us on everything but ourselves and our activities as well as tear, hurt, and confuse us. How everything is a test for our growth and acceptance is a thing of beauty that helps us heal, come together, and accept love and give. There is also an artwork above this writing made from fabric, it has birds out by these three trees on a night sky with the full moon and snowy ground around them. As well as other poems by Crystal Rella and Erica Olivencia. 

On the next wall, there is an artwork done by the PACDEI STUDENT ACTION GROUP  that started in the Spring of 2022 with a mission to make a difference in the community. Events like Women’s Right Q&A PANEL and the Mental Health Awareness program that helped create inclusive environments were a success they achieved. Recently they initiated a calendar celebration for the Islamic Eid-alFitr on future holidays. The next wall had artists Emma Amos and Faith Ringgold with their beautiful artwork. Amos has experienced going to a segregated public school in Atlanta, Georgia, she entered a 5-year program at Antioch University in Yellow Springs. She then studied printmaking, painting, and weaving at the London Central School of Art, her piece in the exhibits was one of my favorites, her intricate design on the woman’s face and hair really draws my attention, and how well it goes together with her face.  

There is a music section where you can see two albums by Malcolm X and song lyrics of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” with a woman singing it next to the paper on a tablet. In the center, there is a podium holding a Black Lives Matter t-shirt and books as well as labels with facts about different movements through history that has happened. On the other side of the podium, there is information about the LGBTQ movement and an article there you can read. As you follow deeper into the gallery you also see old newspapers talk about gay marriage the struggle it went through for gay marriage to be legal and the twin towns and how that affected and still is through the years and laws against discrimination.        

    There is the display of Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic “I have a dream speech” on display as well as the memorial of Martin Luther King Jr in Jersey City. the article on Breonna Taylor and her other Tambica Taylor is alongside it. This exhibit is so amazingly detailed you also get to interact with it by creating a poetry cube and being part of the show itself as well. Following next to that there is one of my favorite pieces made from Goya cans that Goyga donated to the gallery that will be put in the pantry of the school to help those who need it. It is put together to create the Jersey Journal building and next to there is another made from Goya for MLK day of service. This show gives a lot to see and interact with and is beautifully put together to have us travel through the ages to the present time, there is so much more to see in this show, and I have to say you should not pass the chance to see this show!