The City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs is proud to announce the unveiling of two new public murals by interdisciplinary artist Helina Metaferia, created in collaboration with Project for Empty Space, which served as both facilitator and host site, and Edison Properties, which provided a second host location.
The murals—located at 35 Halsey Street and 19 Edison Place—draw from Metaferia’s ongoing series By Way of Revolution and celebrate Newark’s rich legacy of activism while uplifting contemporary voices shaping the city today. The murals were unveiled on Monday, November 17, with celebrations taking place at both locations.
Metaferia led a Newark-based workshop for women-identifying BIPOC participants that centered on resilience, protest histories, and strategies for self and community care. From this gathering, Newark-born cousins Nashel Brantley and Karla Cruz were chosen as the focal figures for the murals. Their portraits, taken by Newark-based photographer Malaika A. Muindi, are interwoven with archival materials from the city’s activist history, linking past and present movements for justice and representation.
“Being involved in this project from start to finish has been so healing in a way I couldn’t have done by myself. The workshop was so much more than I expected—I loved reflecting inwardly while also deeply connecting with others. At the end of the workshop, I felt so valued and represented. For my cousin and me to be chosen for the murals and represented in our hometown was anxiety-provoking at first. I had to make a conscious decision to embrace the honor that this is, the same way I’d encourage another woman to. This project helped me connect to myself, my community, my ancestors, and my city in incredible ways.”
- Nashel Brantley, featured at 35 Halsey St, Newark, NJ
“Being able to attend Helina Metaferia’s workshop open-minded and without any expectations, I left forever grateful for the experience. It felt like a positive Midsommar experience condensed into just a couple of hours with the somatic movements, writings, and dancing, which allowed many of us to reach catharsis. To then have been a chosen muse alongside my cousin for murals in Newark, our hometown, means so much to us and our families. Having our people’s histories displayed and interwoven with personal family pictures shows us how we are all a part of bigger movements that interconnect us on another level.”
- Karla Cruz, featured at 19 Edison Pl, Newark, NJ
“These murals were made at a time when we need to see representation of Black and Brown women uplifted—bolder, louder, and fiercer than ever before. Community building and public artwork do that work, at a scale that demonstrates an investment in our legacies.
This project is a true collaboration between the City of Newark, Project for Empty Space, Newark community residents, and myself as an artist. I am grateful for Nashel and Karla, two participants of my recent By Way of Revolution workshop, who are pictured in the murals. They have worked with me with great trust and vulnerability, sharing their images, personal family histories, and activist movements that inform the murals. It is my hope that this art commemorates this and serves as inspiration to the greater public.”
- Helina Metaferia, Artist
Metaferia’s creative process was deeply informed by the Newark Public Library’s extensive archival collections, which document local and national activist movements across generations. Protest imagery incorporated into the murals includes 1960s–70s Black Panther and Young Lords photographs, materials from The Star-Ledger, the National Council on Negro Women, and other African American, Puerto Rican, and Hispanic organizations, reflecting the mural subjects’ diverse heritage.
Buttons from the Library’s Hilda A. Hidalgo protest button collection adorn the mural figures, alongside new buttons designed through community input on what a modern revolution looks and feels like.
Personal and familial imagery plays a key role: family photographs from Nashel and Karla appear throughout both murals, including a recurring baby photo of the cousins. Their grandmothers’ portraits form the figures’ eyes, while cultural symbols—such as a Salvadoran flag—honor their multicultural lineage. A complete bibliography of archival materials is embedded within each mural, underscoring Newark’s ongoing story of resilience, representation, and pride.
Support for the workshop and public artworks comes from the City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the Newark Creative Catalyst, the Newark Artist Accelerator, Edison Properties, and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. Project collaborators include Adam Reich (photography), Bianca Pereira (graphic design), Malaika A. Muindi (photography), Melanie Wu (research), and Wesley Sanders (printing). Installation support was provided by Mark Hartmann, Diego Molina, and Paint & Design.
About Helina Metaferia
Helina Metaferia is an interdisciplinary artist working across collage, sculpture, video, performance, and social engagement. Her work incorporates archival research, embodied practices, and dialogical studies, supporting overlooked narratives of intersectional identities.
Metaferia’s solo exhibitions include Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2024-2025); RISD Art Museum, Providence, RI (2022-2023); and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA (2021-2022). Her work was included in the 2023 Sharjah Biennial, United Arab Emirates. Group exhibitions include Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France (2025); Fondazione Merz, Turin, Italy (2025); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2023); The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD (2023); Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit, MI (2019); and Modern Art Museum Gebre Kristos Desta Art Center, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2019). Her work is in institutional collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; and Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, NY.
Metaferia received her MFA from Tufts University’s School of the Museum of Fine Arts and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She’s held residencies at MacDowell, Yaddo, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Recess Art, Project for Empty Space, and Silver Art Residency. Her work has been written about in The New York Times, Financial Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, Studio Museum in Harlem Magazine, Artnet, Artforum, and ArtNews. Metaferia is an Assistant Professor at Brown University in the Department of Visual Art, and lives and works in New York City.
About the City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs
The Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs serves as the catalyst for participation, education, collaboration, and development to encourage and support excellence in the arts within the City of Newark. This division oversees the city's arts initiatives, supports community engagement in arts and cultural programming, provides organizational support to existing and evolving art institutions, oversees a world-class public art program, and encourages collaborative partnerships and investment in the city's artists and arts and cultural organizations. It supports the creation of a more sustainable, equitable, inclusive, and creative economy in Newark that enlivens our neighborhoods and ignites the imaginations of our children.