'Carrying On: Black Panther Party Artists Continue the Legacy' on View Through March 15

GLASSBORO, NJ. (WPVI) -- 'Carrying On: Black Panther Party Artists Continue the Legacy' features work from past and present.

Colette Gaiter is the curator of the exhibition.

"These are four artists who worked for the original Black Panther newspaper," says Gaiter.

She points out a work by social justice artist Emory Douglas that features a paperboy.

"All power to the people, that's the message," she says.

The artists' work is together for the first time on the east coast at Rowan University's 301 High Street Gallery in Glassboro, New Jersey.

"We are a cultural destination for the region," says Mary Salvante, Director and Chief Curator for Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum. "We want to be sure that we are representing as many different voices as we can."

Emory Douglas started with the paper in 1967 and stayed until its final issues in 1980.

"Telling our story from our perspective," says Douglas. "What we wanted, what we believed, dealing with quality-of-life issues."

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

"They wanted to have an organization that pushed back against police brutality in Black neighborhoods," says Gaiter. "During the Black Lives Matter Movement, this all got resurrected."

One of the artists featured in this exhibition is Gayle Asali Dickson. She has several works on view, including a piece Gaiter says she made "in response to the George Floyd murder."

She adds that Dickson worked for the paper during the time its focus shifted from self-defense to survival.

"She does a whole series on important Black women in history," says Gaiter. Ida B. Wells is the subject of one of her works.

In the 1970s, Malik Edwards did some pointillism pieces.

"It's extremely prescient," says Gaiter of Edwards' work. In a piece called 'Videophilia' he drew people holding what she describes as "a little TV on a stick."

"Right now, he does digital prints," she says. "He's experimenting with AI, artificial intelligence programs."

Work from Professor Akinsanya Kambon is also featured. Some of his art reflects his service in the Vietnam War.

"Liberation is the biggest theme," says Gaiter.

"The art is a powerful tool to language that can be used to enlighten, to inform, and perhaps a guide to action," says Douglas.

'Carrying On: Black Panther Party Artists Continue the Legacy' is free and runs through March 15 at Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum.

'Carrying On: Black Panther Party Artists Continue the Legacy'
Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum

Rowan University Art Gallery & Museum
301 High Street W.
Glassboro, NJ 08028