En Foco & WallWorks NY Present Contested Space
May 14, 6–8 PM
Bronx, NY – At a moment when questions of land, displacement, and power are shaping conversations worldwide, En Foco presents a timely group exhibition that brings these global tensions into focus through the lens of contemporary artists working across photography and visual media.
Curated by Briana Thompson, the exhibition features work by asmara and David Onabanjo, Halee Afolayan, Bernardo Almonte, Corey Baron, Jessica Angima, Clementine Morel, Steven de Medina, and Momo Takahashi. Together, their work examines how physical space—whether urban, domestic, or geopolitical—shapes identity, reflects systems of power, and reveals the often unseen connections between everyday life and global conflict.
An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 14, 2026, from 6–8 PM at WallWorks NY, located in the Bronx. The event is free and open to the public. Click here to RSVP for the Opening Reception. Viewing is available from Wednesday to Friday by appointment only. Visit https://www.wallworksny.com/book-online to schedule an appointment. For additional times, email info@enfoco.org.
Spanning personal narrative, documentary approaches, and conceptual practices, the exhibition moves between the intimate and the expansive. Artists consider how environments are marked by history, contested through policy and violence, and reimagined through memory and resistance. In doing so, the exhibition positions space not as a neutral backdrop, but as an active force—one that structures belonging, exclusion, and the possibility of transformation.
Presented at WallWorks NY, the exhibition is part of En Foco’s community exhibitions initiative, which centers access, dialogue, and representation within the cultural landscape of the Bronx. By bringing together artists whose practices engage urgent social and political themes, En Foco continues its decades-long commitment to amplifying diverse voices and creating space for critical engagement through the arts.
Rooted in the Bronx yet resonant far beyond it, the exhibition invites audiences to consider how local experiences of housing, migration, and neighborhood change are deeply connected to broader global conditions. In this way, the work on view creates a bridge between lived experience and larger geopolitical realities, offering a space for reflection, conversation, and shared understanding.
Halee Afolayan is a New York-born photographer whose portraiture is grounded in intimacy, familiarity, and community. Currently a student at The New School, she turns her lens toward the people who reflect her city’s diversity, from friends to neighbors, and strangers alike. Her work seeks to highlight and honor these individuals by creating images that invite viewers into a sense of closeness and shared experience.
Steven de Medina (b.2000, Brooklyn, New York), through photography, installation, research, and guerrilla archiving, is in search of the path towards revolution. Informed by a Marxist lens and a Black Latin-Caribbean background, they are concerned with the diaspora communities they struggle alongside, their histories, and their material conditions. As a means of social analysis, through this image-based practice, subjects and scenes exhibit unique experiences of survival in these times. Relationships to community, lineage, land, and the powers that be define these experiences and provide a deeper understanding of what is to be done. Exploring themes of class dynamics, alienation, identity, and resistance, Medina’s work aims to act as a reference point for the revolutionary masses. Of Dominican and Honduran descent, Medina was raised amongst the Latin and Caribbean diaspora communities of Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. They currently still reside and work in Brooklyn. They received their Bachelors from Brooklyn College in 2022, majoring in Sociology and Africana Studies. Since pursuing photography in 2018, their work has been directed by this academic background, as well as their continued involvement in grassroots organizing.
Jessica Angima is a Kenyan American organizer and social practice artist. In a constant state of process, she facilitates intimate community through exploration. Her work focuses on self-formation; using writing, photography, and dharma to explore the effects of specific places, environments, and objects. With over 400 hours of meditation facilitation training, she has taught for BRIC, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, Dia Arts. Jessica lives in Brooklyn, NY, on unceded Lenape territory with her plants and her books. In her free time, you can find her enjoying neighborhood green spaces.
Bernardo Almonte is a Dominican documentary photographer based between New York City and the Caribbean. His work focuses on nostalgia, the imaginary, and the dream of deliverance from postcolonial trauma. He intertwines both diasporic and homeland culture, going back and forth between territories. His work is divided between fine art, nature, and the commercial. Almonte began his documentary practice in 2010 focusing on the use of fashion as a façade to conceal trends detrimental to Dominican society such as classism, colorism, and racism. Consequently, his landscape photography explores the search for refuge from a materialistic lifestyle, published in magazines such as Messenger Mag and Pandora, both Caribbean publications. His commercial work encompasses culinary and product photography and portraiture. Since 2012, Almonte has been photographing artist studios and pieces, supporting emerging practitioners as they develop a consistent portfolio. Currently, he works with over ten restaurants between New York and New Jersey.
Clementine Morel is a Dominican queer photographer renowned for their captivating and evocative imagery. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, Clementine’s work intricately explores the intersections of light, emotion, and narrative. Their portfolio, which spans from fashion to intimate portraits, reflects her unique vision and technical prowess. Based in New York City, Clementine finds joy in capturing the nuances of everyday moments and the beauty surrounding us. Her focus on both candid and portrait photography allows them to tell stories and evoke deep emotions. Continuously pushing creative boundaries, Clementine remains committed to exploring and developing their craft, offering a thoughtful and personal perspective that resonates profoundly with their audience. They studied Advertising and Communications with an emphasis on visual art in the Dominican Republic. During their time on the island, they collaborated with prominent Dominican artists and participated in several exhibitions between 2017 and 2019. Their first New York City exhibition took place in 2019, organized by the collective EmpowHer. In 2024, their work was showcased at Satellite Gallery in NYC and featured in “Powered By Us,” an exhibition celebrating Latinx artists in The Bronx. That same year, they were highlighted in AQ V Edition, an American publication spotlighting 20 female artists from around the world. in March 2025, Clementine was featured in Local Wolves, an LA-based magazine that amplifies the voices of creative visionaries across the U.S. Most recently, they were part of ‘Un Chin Magazine’ talking about their trajectory as a creative director and photographer in NYC.
Jaileen Asmara Pierre-Louis – Guided by Black Feminist Insurgency, asmara is dedicated to the reality that freedom is a place we can build and arrive at in this lifetime. They study and practice traditions of feminist revolution to reignite the liberatory world-building that occurs before, during, and in the wake of global systems of domination. Inspired by the ancient relationship between women and nature, her work catalyzes the consciousness shifts necessary to restore dignity to the earth and third-world women; at the center of this is a reconfiguration of the feminine body as a precious and profound locus in earthly and cosmic Ecosystems. An artist of the experimental tradition, she focuses on fostering social empathy through intimate community-building and the creative practices of writing, performance, and film. As part of this practice, asmara practices agroecological conservation and grows food for free distribution to support resilient, sovereign community members at Ujamaa Garden in the Northeast Bronx.
David Onabanjo is a Nigerian-American multimedia artist, documentary impact producer, and youth educator born and raised in the Bronx, NY. Centering an interdisciplinary approach, his practice combines photography, film, installation, sound design, DJing, and facilitation. Using these mediums, David’s work grapples with the modalities of grounding, drifting, and journeying as reactions to external stimuli. As a Black Queer person, he emphasizes the continuous struggle of navigating these reactions and the possibilities for healing each offers, both to individuals and communities. Influenced by West African photography, experimental Black film, radio culture, community organizing, and Black archival work, gathering is central to his art– both as a theme and a practice. His time and experiential-based work invite viewers to come together to reconsider and awaken their relationship with place, setting, and community, exploring the rhythms of healing. As an educator, he’s passionate about inviting young people of color to embrace art as a vehicle to learn more about themselves, what makes them feel deeply, and their continuous capacity to care.
Momo Takahashi
Momo Takahashi is a first-generation Japanese American photographer and photo editor based in Queens, New York. Central to her work is connecting with those in her community in exploring themes of identity, kinship, and diasporic belonging. She is currently the Assistant Photo Editor at The New Yorker.
Corey Baron
Corey Baron (b. 2002) is a writer and photographer who is interested in the ways that image-making helps to facilitate and nurture his relationships with both members of his community and the larger world around him. His practice centers on portraiture because it is the process that makes him feel most human. He wants his images to reflect a deep investment into the visual, emotional, and spiritual infrastructure of his community. Corey has spent the last four years working on an ongoing project titled, Lead Me to That Promised Land, which explores the contrasting and hyper-proliferated images of Harlem: as mecca, as haven, as wasteland — in order to trace the arc of history to the present. Corey lives and works in Harlem and the Bronx, where he teaches system-impacted young adults at Youth Justice Network and with the Lens on Life Project.
ABOUT EN FOCO: En Foco, Inc. is a non-profit that supports U.S.-based photographers of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander heritage. Founded in 1974, En Foco makes their work visible to the art world, yet remains accessible to underserved communities. Through exhibitions, workshops, events, and publications, it provides professional recognition, honoraria, and assistance to photographers as they grow into different stages of their careers. The Nueva Luz Study Center (NLSC) makes our history accessible through the digital archives of all issues of the photographic journal since 1985. Exhibitions, programs, and commissions are underway that focus on artists and issues that have been introduced in Nueva Luz. For more information about En Foco, please visit www.enfoco.org.
ABOUT WALLWORKS NY: WALLWORKS NEW YORK is a contemporary art gallery rooted in the South Bronx, dedicated to bringing art back uptown and showcasing the legacy, evolution, and global impact of graffiti and street art. In the vein of Fashion MODA, WALLWORKS is dedicated to showcasing new and exciting art from both emerging and established artists, from both the neighborhood and around the world. Founded in collaboration with legendary graffiti artist CRASH, the gallery serves as a platform for both pioneering figures and emerging voices whose work pushes the boundaries of urban and contemporary art. WALLWORKS New York’s mission is to honor and amplify the voices of artists shaped by graffiti, street culture, and The Bronx’s creative spirit. We are committed to preserving the movement’s history, supporting its evolution, and providing accessible opportunities for artists to exhibit, experiment, and grow. For more information about WallWorks, please visit www.wallworksny.com.
En Foco is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The Mellon Foundation, BronxCare Health System, The Joy of Giving Something, Inc., The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Hispanic Federation, and Aguado-Pavlick Arts Fund.