Affecting Utopia at Rutgers Medical School

Selected photographs from the Winter 2023 Photovoice session will be on permanent display at Rutgers Medical School. Planned to coincide with Pride Month, this show will kick off with an opening reception on June 2 at 1:00 p.m.

Affecting Utopia is about the ways in which we are all implicated and engaged through activating a social network of living without stigma. These nine photographs explore artist agency in the development of their desire and autonomy to affect their subjective futures. The artworks vocalize and produce real-world concepts of care that strive for a contemporary utopia: ways of interacting with each other without the boundaries of stigma. These artists move forward and bring their insights and notions of inclusivity and positivity from the conditions the community at the Pride Center of Newark presents to them. This collection of photographs was developed by nine individuals who met at the Pride Center of Newark for seven weeks in the winter of 2023 and employed Photovoice, a research method that engages people to create, discuss and share photographs of their own lived experience. 

The Photovoice workshops and exhibition were led by photographer and educator Gabriel Sacco.  

This project was initiated by Ashley Grosso, assistant professor in the Department of Urban-Global Public Health, and Jacqueline Thaw, associate professor in the Department of Art & Design, both at Rutgers University. 

Facilitated by Rutgers University and The North Jersey Community Research Initiative (NJCRI) 

With sincere thanks to:
Corey L. DeStefano
Chrystal Turner
Rutgers School of Public Health
Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers
And all the dedicated staff and volunteers at the
Pride Center of Newark