Pure Joy
“Once we recognize we can feel deeply, we can love deeply, we can feel joy, then we will demand that all parts of our lives produce that kind of joy.”
Audre Lorde
Poet & Activist
Pure Joy, is Newark Arts’ inaugural group exhibition at Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark. This exhibition celebrates Newark Arts Festival 2025 and features 75 visual artists responding to the festival call to explore joy as a creative force. The exhibition features a wide range of works, including bold paintings, film, and mixed-media pieces that celebrate joy as a vehicle of cultural and community resilience.
Each piece in the collection embodies joy as more than a fleeting emotion. The artists convey it as a catalyst for catharsis, a builder of resilience, and a unifying force. Through their creative practice, they show joy as an active expression of hope, resistance, and love for life—illuminating how art can inspire, sustain, and transform communities.
This exhibition embodies that powerful demand, showcasing the transformative power of art to create a world where joy is not just a possibility, but a right.
This exhibition also marks a significant milestone: Newark Arts’ debut as an official Organization in Residence at Express Newark.
This exhibition was curated by Adrienne Wheeler and Cheyenne Allegra Ceasar.
Participating Artists
Judyann Affronti
Happiness Akaniro
Rachel Fawn Alban
Kervin Andre
Yasmine Barboza
Josephine Barreiro
Tanisha Best (Dear Newark)
Tasha Branham
Cathleen McCoy Bristol
Allison V. Brown
Laia Cabrera
Doris Cacoilo
Simone Bailey Campbell
Michael Dal Cerro
Stella Chang Sandra Charlap gwen charles
Caren King Choi
Irene Christensen
Davion Cottrell
Patricia Dahlman
Lionel Daniels
Steven “Stevo” Darius
Leo de Paula,
Cat Delett
Isabelle Duverger
Margaret EI
Giovanna Eley
Antoinette Ellis-Williams
Maria Estrela
Ricardo Osmondo Francis
Sumana Ghosh-Witherspoon
Juan Carlos Giraldo
Jaz Graf
Alexander Guzman
Beth Heit
Kim Hill
Musa Hixson
Samar Hussaini
David James
Veda Kagabo
Afrocentric Keyy
Monifa Kincaid
Emily Konopinski
Danté Maurice Laughlin
Laura Lou Levy
Joshua López
Nijah Mentor
Cecelia Mitchell
Carole Moore Kween Moore
Kelly Niceley
Modupe Odusote
Olaniyi Omotayo
Samad Onque
Suliman Onque
Yvonne Onque
David Christopher Orrell Jr.
Lillian Ribeiro
Alexandra Romero
Tatum Sabin
Theda Sandiford
Ameerah Shabazz
Onnie Strother
Evelyn Tejeda
Nette Forné Thomas
Bleriot Thompson
Vazquez
Ann Vollum
Andréa Ward
Yan Wei
Anker West
Heather Williams
NiChelle Williams
Juno Zago
