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Dexter Wimberly Named Director of the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark
Wimberly promises to show 'significant, yet underexposed artists.'
Wimberly promises to show 'significant, yet underexposed artists.'
Skye Arundhati Thomas ShareShare This Article
The Newark, New Jersey based non-profit, Aljira Center for Contemporary Art, has named Dexter Wimberly as its new executive director. Wimberly will begin from this week, to coincide with the October 15 opening of the center’s newest exhibition, “Zachary Fabri: From the Wolf to the Fox.”
Wimberly has a background in marketing and PR, having previously worked as Communications Director for the Museum for African Art in New York.
Wimberly has curated exhibitions at the Aljira before, and most recently held the position of Director of Strategic Planning at Independent Curators International in New York. He has also co-founded a PR agency, August Bishop.
Wimberly has a strong curatorial vision to promote “significant, yet underexposed artists” at Aljira, including some who have never been shown in the New York area before. “I admire the way in which Dexter serves artists and applies his entrepreneurial experience to the careers of artists,” said Victor L. Davson, the founding director of Aljira, in a statement from the institution.
Wimberly’s curatorial highlights include the 2010 “The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks” at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in New York as well as a group show, “The Ease of Fiction,” at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina, which included works by Meleko Mokgosi and Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze.
“His knowledge and experience will certainly usher Aljira into a new tomorrow with insightful additions to Newark’s arts community and the region,” stated Davson with great optimism and encouragement for the new director.