Linda Goode Bryant was born in 1949 in Columbus, Ohio, and currently lives and works in New York City, New York. In 1972, Goode Bryant received her BA from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and studied art history at the City College of New York until 1974, later receiving her MBA from Columbia University in 1980. In the many different titles and hats that the artist has worn throughout her decades-long career, including educator, gallerist, activist, filmmaker, and farmer, Goode Bryant has sought to realize ideas that were previously thought impossible through a choreography of passion, commitment, skill, and community. From creating the first Black commercial gallery in New York City to founding an urban farming nonprofit on concrete yards and city rooftops, Goode Bryant’s works empower communities and create tangible change, allowing others to realize their impossible ideas alongside her.

Janet Olivia Henry was born in 1947 in New York City, New York, where currently she lives and works. Henry attended the School of Visual Arts from 1964 to 1965 and later received her Associate Degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1969. The artist’s work in collage and assemblage draws from American culture, using images from magazines, dolls, and objects produced in miniature to create connections and juxtapositions. Her work frequently draws from and comments on her experiences, as in The Studio Visit (1983), where the artist stages the scene of a studio visit in miniature. In The Studio Visit, a Barbie Star Trek Lieutenant Uhura doll, a recurring material in Henry’s work, sits beside a smaller, white doll who is literally framed within the diorama, pointing to the centrality of a white, outside perspective on the work of Black artists. At times, Henry’s work in assemblage plays with language, as in a series of sculptures that are drawn from synonyms and homonyms for the word “two.” In all of her work, using techniques of collage and assemblage, the artist uses the referential and symbolic charge of her materials to create new meaning and question the culture that produces these materials.

Randy Williams was born in 1947 in New York City, New York, where he currently lives and works. Williams received his BS from New York University and a Masters Degree in Art Education from Sir George Williams University in Montreal. The artist’s work in assemblage, what he calls “constructions,” brings together seemingly disparate materials and references and proposes new ways of thinking about cultural figures, launches critiques of inequality and injustice, and pays homage to what inspires and motivates him. In one such work, AIDS Not So Holy (1982), Williams has carved out a small square in the center of the Holy Bible’s cover and placed an unopened condom wrapper inside, the Bible is flanked by a postcard of Ronald Reagan on the left and the word “AIDS” repeated in a single column on the right. AIDS Not So Holy serves to critique the political and social actors who, in the midst of a public health epidemic, refused to provide care or compassion to the victims. Other works, like George Jackson and St. Joan of Arc (1984), draw comparisons between contemporary and historical figures and allow audiences to reframe common narratives. Williams’ works use our shared material culture to reflect the injustices he witnessed and encountered growing up between New York City and the American South.

Maren Hassinger was born in 1947 in Los Angeles, California, and currently lives and works in New York City, New York. Hassinger received her BA in sculpture from Bennington College in 1969, and her MFA in fiber from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1973. The artist’s work in sculpture unites our industrial, built environments with the natural world, creating organic forms and references to plant life using wire rope. Movement is a central aspect of the artist’s work, her sculptures tilt, lean, and sway, as in Leaning (1980). Consisting of 32 bundles of wire rope arranged on the floor each leaning in a different direction, Leaning imitates movement forward in space, resembling feet or legs in motion. In Hassinger’s Industrial Nature (2022), the artist embeds her sculptures in the midst of the Project EATS Essex Crossing Rooftop Farm, creating a direct connection between her works and the natural world. The sculptural forms, erect strands of wire rope rising from cubes of concrete, sway with the wind alongside the crops grown at the farm. Through her work, Hassinger considers formal connections between the industrial and natural forms and creates a stage where viewers might consider their relationship more deeply.

Ishmael Houston-Jones was born in 1951 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and currently lives and works in New York City, New York. In his work the artist explores the political implications of working collectively and drawing from improvisational explorations he choreographs pieces for solo dancers and groups. In his work, Houston-Jones choreographs, dances, writes, curates, and frequently the boundaries between these practices are made porous. Alongside exploring improvisational strategies, the artist reflects the realities of life as a Black American in his choreographies. One example is his collaboration with Keith Hennessy and Patrick Scully, Unsafe / Unsuited (A High Risk Meditation) (1995), where Houston-Jones attempts to pass between Hennessy and Scully, two white dancers, and is held back in a series of escalating attempts. He also works to recover lost narratives from American history, as in his collaboration with Fred Holland titled Cowboys, Dreams, and Ladders (1984), where the artists explored the history of the Black cowboy.