REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE
REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE
May 16–June 27, 2025
Rutgers University–Camden
The Campus Gallery
Advised by Mickalene Thomas
MICKALENE THOMAS
The Campus Gallery at Rutgers University–Camden, in collaboration with Year of the Arts, is pleased to present Reframing the Narrative, a group exhibition advised by celebrated multidisciplinary artist Mickalene Thomas. Thomas brings together a selection of Rutgers art students and local artists living and working in the city of Camden, including Sonia Gonzalez, MC, Marcy Morris, Lewis Officer, Jazlyne Sabree, De’Von Downes, Brittany Baum, and Tiana McMillan.
Reframing the Narrative is a manifesto intended to promote a more inclusive and accurate representation of Black artists in Camden by looking at both Rutgers–Camden students and local artists that work across mediums and theoretical concepts. The exhibition serves as a platform to amplify artistic expression and to acknowledge individual impact on the city’s art, culture and community.
The works featured in this exhibition are diverse in form and content, ranging from painting and sculpture to mixed media, equally refined in execution and driven by purpose. The title “Reframing the Narrative” captures the essence of this moment, highlighting the emergence of powerful voices in contemporary art beyond traditional hubs. Despite facing challenges, Camden’s local artists demonstrate invincibility and creativity, transforming their experiences into works that reflect their individual perspectives and surroundings. The selected artists and artworks showcase the city’s profound impact on its residents, offering a nuanced glimpse into their creative practices. By sharing their stories and perspectives, they challenge dominant narratives, defy expectations, and showcase the beauty that can emerge from adversity. Ultimately, Reframing the Narrative celebrates the diversity and talent of Camden’s artistic community, providing a platform for their voices to be heard and appreciated.
REFRAMING THE NARRATIVE: ART AS MANIFESTO AND METHOD IN CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY
By Lavett Ballard BS Studio Art & Art History
MFA-Studio
Art
In Reframing the Narrative, an ambitious group exhibition hosted at Rutgers University–Camden, the act of making art becomes a manifesto—a bold reclamation of space, story, and identity. With the guidance of Camden-born artist Mickalene Thomas, the exhibition brings together Rutgers students and local artists working in painting, collage, photography, and mixed media. Each work on view testifies not only to personal vision but to a collective assertion: Camden is not a blank slate, nor a symbol of urban despair, but a site of cultural wealth, intergenerational resilience, and aesthetic innovation. Through formal experimentation and thematic clarity, these artists challenge those who get to tell the story of Camden’s artistic identity and demand that narratives of marginalization give way to those of self-definition and creative power.
At the heart of Reframing the Narrative is Mickalene Thomas’s return to her roots. Born in Camden in 1971, Thomas’s journey from inner-city art education programs to the global stage underscores the transformative power of artistic mentorship and community-based support. Known for her rhinestone-embellished portraits and visual lexicon grounded in Black femininity, queerness, and glamor, Thomas’s formative years in New Jersey remain foundational to her practice. In interviews, she credits early exposure to community arts programs, museums, and especially her mother, Sandra Bush, a fashion model and her first muse, for sparking her passion for visual storytelling (Cotter, 2012). Her presence as an advisor to this exhibition is thus deeply symbolic: she stands not only as a globally celebrated artist but as a hometown visionary helping to nurture the next generation of cultural producers.
Camden’s history as an industrial and cultural hub is often overshadowed by narratives of economic decline, systemic disinvestment, and social struggle. Yet its often overlooked artistic lineage is rich, shaped by local
muralists, grassroots educators, and visual storytellers who have long used art to document, resist, and reimagine. Reframing the Narrative intervenes in these conversations, positioning Camden not as a periphery but as a nucleus of creative ferment. As bell hooks writes, “Representation is the ‘hot issue’ in terms of the connection between race and cultural criticism.” (hooks, 1995, p. 211). This exhibition embraces that urgency, offering not just representations of Camden life but interventions into how that life is perceived, valued, and historicized.
The artists in the exhibition span generations and stages of practice, yet all embrace a politics of presence. Sonya Gonzalez, for instance, crafts raw, emotionally resonant works across oil, ink, charcoal, and photography. Her layered approach speaks to the multiplicity of identity, anchoring personal history within broader cultural movements. Her pieces suggest the ongoing negotiation between visibility and vulnerability, a central theme for many of the show’s contributors.
MC’s practice similarly navigates complex terrains of race, gender, and visibility. Her portraits center Black bodies embodying androgyny and duality, framed in a surreal, Afrofuturist tableaux.
“I am compelled to distort the common reality,” MC writes, “by bringing forth a new being (Nubian).” Her work amplifies the voices of those doubly marginalized, offering what theorist José Esteban Muñoz calls “a queer utopian aesthetic”—art that insists on imagining otherwise (Muñoz, 2009).
Ceramic work in the show contributes a tactile dimension to these themes. Tiana McMillan assembles figurative pieces in a modular, interchangeable fashion. This method echoes the fluidity of identity and the trans figurative process of becoming. “Coming into your own personhood,” the artist notes, “is a transformative process.” Her ceramic practice becomes a metaphor for the human condition as fragile, adaptable, and always evolving.
Exploring themes of representation and beauty through painted constructions of imaginary female subjects. Brittany Baum’s paintings are rooted in the playful yet politically charged act of “playing with Barbies,” Baum’s characters are not mere fictions or objectified impressions of aesthetic beauty, but vessels of Afrocentric revision. Each figure challenges normative assumptions about femininity and visual pleasure, drawing viewers into conversations about agency, fantasy, and social critique.
Other artists address the natural world as a site of tension and transcendence. Lewis Officer, a sport fishing enthusiast, critiques toxic masculinity while exploring the relationship between man and nature. His works act as ecological meditations and gendered commentaries, reframing the hypermasculine realm of fishing as a space for reflection, humility, and environmental justice. In this sense, Officer participates in
a growing genre of eco-critical art, which interrogates human dominion and advocates for a more reciprocal relationship with the planet. (Gablik, 1991).
De’Von Downes brings tenderness to the fore. Their watercolors depict Black bodies with grace, calmness, and dignity. Eschewing spectacle, Downes offers softness as a radical aesthetic—an antidote to the historic dehumanization of Black identities. Their portraits function not only as individual tributes but as collective sanctuaries, echoing what scholar Tina Campt describes as “quiet photography” images that carry the weight of refusal and remembrance in subtle yet potent ways (Campt, 2017).
Jazlyn Sabree creates large-scale mixed-media collages using paint, paper, fabric, and found objects to elevate African diasporic subjects as divine messengers. Rooted in diasporic memory, Black spirituality, and sacred aesthetics, her work transforms everyday materials into visual altars that honor ancestral voices. Sabree explores themes of displacement, resilience, historical trauma, and spiritual transformation, reimagining Camden and other urban spaces as sites of cultural reckoning and reverence. Her practice draws on Africanisms and the syncretic evolution of African beliefs across the diaspora, blurring the lines between myth and memory, history and the holy.
Marcy Morris, working in vivid color, captures emotion and presence through bold abstraction and expressive figuration. Her work, while visually dynamic, is rooted in a deep empathy for her subjects and surroundings. She channels the vibrancy of Camden’s people, layering color as a form of praise and protest. In doing so, Morris continues the legacy of artists like Alma Thomas and Beauford Delaney, who used color as a language of liberation.
Collectively, these artists participate in a wider history of art as urban revitalization. Across the U.S., cities like Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, and Newark have leveraged the arts to spark economic renewal, community healing, and civic pride. In Camden, the presence of Rutgers and its commitment to public-facing scholarship provides an infrastructure for sustained cultural investment. Exhibitions like Reframing the Narrative reflect not just isolated artistic efforts but a broader pedagogical mission: to collapse the boundary between the academy and the community, to make education a reciprocal exchange.
Art education is both formal and informal serving as a crucial mechanism in this process. The opportunity offered by Mickalene Thomas exemplifies this dynamic. Her career models what can happen when creative voices are supported rather than silenced, nurtured rather than neglected. In her mentorship, Thomas transmits not only encouragement but a political imperative: make work that matters, that speaks, that survives.
As an exhibition, Reframing the Narrative functions on multiple levels. Aesthetically, it showcases a diversity of media, from traditional portraiture to experimental sculpture and collage. Thematically, it insists on truth-telling, reclamation, and transformation. Historically, it situates Camden within a lineage of artistic resistance from the Harlem Renaissance to the Black Arts Movement to contemporary diasporic practices. And institutionally, it redefines what it means for a university to be in service to its surroundings.
The exhibition title itself is significant. To “reframe the narrative” is to challenge the gaze, to redirect attention, to assert authorship. These artists are not waiting to be included in someone else’s story; they are writing their own. Their work signals a shift from object to agent, from observed to observer. As scholar Adrienne Edwards notes, “To reframe is to reimagine the terms of visibility and value in contemporary art.” (Edwards, 2018). This exhibition does precisely that by allowing the artists to offer their own distinct visual narratives.
In reframing Camden’s story, the artists gathered here map a new cultural cartography. One that honors the past, its grit, its brilliance, and its losses without being beholden to it. One imagines a future in which the arts are not just embellishment but essential infrastructure. In a city, too often reduced to headlines, these artists offer visions of complexity, community, and care.
Ultimately, Reframing the Narrative is more than an exhibition. It is a manifesto. A call to see differently, to act boldly, to believe in the power of art to build and rebuild. In the hands of these artists, Camden is not a backdrop to be survived but a birthplace of brilliance to be celebrated.
Works Cited:
Campt, T. (2017). Listening to Images. Duke University Press.
Cotter, H. (2012, December 6). Art’s Glittering Empress Sets a Place at the Table. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/arts/ design/mickalene-thomass-origin-of-the-universe.html
Edwards, A. (2018). Reframing the Black Figure: Art, Visibility, and Identity. Art in America.
Gablik, S. (1991). The Reenchantment of Art. Thames and Hudson.
hooks, b. (1995). Art on My Mind: Visual Politics. The New Press.
Muñoz, J. E. (2009). Cruising Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity. NYU Press.
BRITTANY ANNE BAUM
American painter and illustrator Brittany Anne Baum, born 1984 in Camden, New Jersey, is an artist known for her bold and imaginative paintings of female subjects. She primarily works with oil paints, pastels, markers, and colored pencils from her art studio based in the Philadelphia region.
Her body of works typically feature medium-to-larger scale portrait and scenic pieces inspired by vintage editorial works and Afrocentric elements. Brittany is best known for her whimsical portraits of Black women and explores the creation of imaginary subjects in unique compositions, akin to playing with Barbies. She has participated in notable exhibitions as well as shown works in well-known galleries throughout the region.
Additionally, she was chosen for a public art installation at the Walter Rand Transportation Center in Camden, New Jersey in 2023 and selected for a yearlong fellowship with Mural Arts Philadelphia in 2024.
Brittany’s artistic talent has garnered attention from private collectors and gallery patrons who have collected her work.
“Dedicated to my Homegirl, Shonda”
Pastel pencil on toned paper, 12"x18" (16"x20" framed) 2025
DE’VON DOWNES
A non-binary artist from South Jersey, De’Von creates impactful works in watercolor, public art, and jewelry. Their portraiture focuses on the Black experience, weaving in symbolism from folklore and nature. They’ve contributed to projects with Murals Arts, Atlantic City Arts Foundation, Made in America, Glassboro Public Schools, and Camden FireWorks, leaving permanent murals across various locations.
Before muralism, De’von studied art therapy, worked as an arts coordinator, and conducted community-based workshops, emphasizing wellness and emotional literacy. Their belief in influencing change through inclusive, educational art drives them to challenge norms and use public art as a platform for inspiration and education.
De’von is cofounder of Philly Queer Life Drawing and a resident artist at Camden Fireworks. They are currently based in the South Jersey/ Greater Philadelphia region.
IceBerg Oil on Canvas, 36"x36" 2023
SONIA GONZALEZ
Sonia Gonzalez is an independent artist born in Puerto Rico and based in Camden County for over 30 years. She currently serves as the Graphic Designer at the Community Leadership Center at Rutgers University, where she has helped shape the visual identity of the Center and its signature project, the LEAP Academy.
Sonia works across various media—oil paint, colored ink, charcoal, pencil, photography—with a focus on abstract impressionism. Her art explores human experience and emotion, offering space for reflection and connection. Alongside her personal practice, Sonia has contributed to several public art projects, including murals for the Camden City Council Chamber, the Camden County Jail Population, and the Parkside Business & Community in Partnership, incorporating historical research and community narratives.
Deeply connected to social issues, her evolving body of work highlights the struggles and resilience of vulnerable communities, capturing the journey of people finding their place in society.
“Digital Glaze” Acyclic on canvas, 18"x24" 2024
MC is a 19-year-old African American visual artist from Memphis, Tennessee, now based in Camden, New Jersey, with a passion for expressing personal and cultural narratives through contentious and detailed art.
“His-Story” Acrylic, 48"x60"
TIANA M c MILLAN
Tiana McMillan is a Camden-based sculptor who works in ceramic sculpture, textile arts, and installation. They grew up in Willingboro, New Jersey and moved to Camden in 2016 for a bachelor’s program at Rutgers University. During that time as a student, she participated in many student shows and was a student intern at the Student Works Gallery (recently renamed Campus Gallery). Some of Tiana’s community-based artwork has been with the non-profit organization City Arts for the mural project Following in the Footsteps of Alexander Hamiliton II in Harlem, NY during the summer of 2018. Some of their most recently curated shows have been Only Child by De’von Downes (2025), Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic by Noel Cross (2024), and Crosswinds: In Memoriam of my Father by Austin Cuttino (2023) through the Campus Gallery at Rutgers University–Camden. Currently, Tiana works as the curator of the Campus Gallery at Rutgers University–Camden and their focus is highlighting student, alumni, and community member artwork and creative engagement.
“Venus Skirt” Ceramic, 20"x8"x8" 2018
MARCY MORRIS
Marcy Morris is a New Jersey artist, poet, writer, interpretive dancer, and wearable art designer who creates out of her home studio in Mount Laurel, New Jersey.
Marcy utilizes her gifts as a teaching artist and creative healer through visual expressions of painting, drawing mixed media. Her practices combine Qigong and meditative breath-work. Marcy Morris’ paintings and drawings reflect the diverse beauty of her interracial family, embracing Black and Latinx communities with a focus on the heart of Philadelphia, Camden and Chester. As a mother of multitalented biracial children she is vitally protective and proud of her daughter and sons’ individuality, leadership and self expression. Her heart beats the same for students and families she has created with over the past 30 years.
Marcy was adopted as a child and raised in the suburbs with her Jewish family. Marcy’s attributes her inclusive mindset to compassionate sensitivity and external awareness of healing racial injustice, paving the way for conversation and connection through the arts.
In 1997, Marcy met her biological parents and learned of her diverse heritage (Finnish, Colombian, and Spanish) she later learned through her DNA (Indigenous American, Nigerian, Angolan, Ashkenazi Jewish, British and Irish lineages). Marcy embraces the mix and flow of humanity with dignity and compassion. Her mission is of universal creative healing and connection.
Marcy received her BFA in painting from Syracuse University in 1988 and her PA Art Teaching Certification in 1996. She is currently a teaching artist at Artwell Philadelphia and a mentor for the Camden REAL Mentor Scholastic program. She is a former TA for the Rutgers Ignite program and her paintings are proudly displayed at the Ignite office. In Camden, you will find her work featured at the Idea Center for the Arts and Nuanced Café.
“Dancing with my Daughter”
Acrylic, 24"x30"
LEWIS OFFICER
Lewis D. Officer is a British-American painter born in Stockton-onTees, UK, 2001, with a studio based in Camden, NJ. His work deals within the vast realm of internet culture, meme imagery, and American fishing culture. He is currently a student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in painting from Rutgers University–Camden. He started his academic career as a computer science student, having earned an associate degree from Camden County College in Blackwood, NJ. Although he did not start pursuing art until the age of 22, his creativity has always been celebrated, and he was self-proclaimed as the “Most Creative Student” in his early school years. He was raised in an era of internet culture that molded the identity of his generation that many refer to as the “Wild Web,” and which shapes a large part of the person he is today. His fish shine like beacons of light, detailing the deeper delusion that lies within his art.
“Common Ancestor” Oil on Canvas, 16" x 20" 2023
JAZLYNE SABREE
Jazlyne Sabree (b. 1990, New Jersey) is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Greater Philadelphia area. She received her bachelor’s degree from Clark Atlanta University, an HBCU, in Atlanta, GA where she studied art and journalism. She then went on to become an art educator, returning to college to receive her master’s in art education at Boston University. She received her master of fine arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. She is a recipient of the Clark Atlanta University Art Guild Award, the Linda Lora Pugliese Award for Excellence in Art Education, the PAFA Venture Fund Grant, MassMoCA Artist Residency, and the AACC Fellowship at the Montclair Art Museum. Additionally, she has been featured on platforms such as News 12, WHYY, several podcasts such as The Truth in this Art, and in many publications. She was also awarded a teaching artist residency in Monrovia, Liberia in West Africa at the Cachelle International Creative Arts Center, as well as the Casa Na Ilha Artist Residency in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Waldemar Belisário Museum in Ilhabela, São Paolo, Brazil, and the PAFA Museum in Philadelphia, along with many other private collections.
“Always Sleep in Paw Paw’s Lap”
Acrylic, tissue paper, vellum on canvas, 48" x 60" 2024–2025
Year of the Arts is a diverse slate of programming throughout local venues large and small. From homegrown Rutgers–Camden talent to internationally touring acts, the celebration highlights the depth and breadth of artists who practice their craft in our community or speak to the diverse tastes of our multicultural city. Year of the Arts is sure to entertain us, inspire us, and demonstrate the incredible unifying power of music, theatre, visual art, literature, and much more.
Learn more about our programming and events: camden.rutgers.edu/arts-2025