PRINCETON, NJ Restaurant Dining Guide Announcement

The Potential Project: 21 Stories of Trenton @Artworks Trenton June 14 - July 16

Trenton, NJ - Trenton-based artist Bentrice Jusu will debut The Potential Project: 21 Stories of Trenton at Artworks Trenton on June 18. The multimedia exhibit features four-dimensional portraits of Trentonians lost to violence, using augmented reality technology and multimedia pieces created by Jusu and a creative team of five Trenton-based artists. The two-year project was funded by the Kresge Foundation and hosted at Artworks, with administrative and programmatic support from Trenton Health Team. 

Contributing artists include hip hop artist Big Ooh, poet and soundscape designer Hana Sabree, documentary filmmaker Diego Dorrant Gordon, poet Terra Applegate, and dancer and choreographer Jennet Jusu.

The exhibit features portraits of 21 people, which viewers can scan with the free Artivive app. This triggers an augmented reality experience, with animation and multimedia illustrating the person's life, their impact on those who knew them, and reflections on their loss. The multimedia pieces were created by Jusu and the creative team based on interviews with people who have lost loved ones and the artists' reflections and experiences. 

The idea for the Potential Project grew out of Jusu's own experience of gun violence at the Pulse Nightclub, the site of a 2016 mass shooting at the LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando where 49 people were killed and more than 53 wounded. Jusu's experience paired with losing one of her talented students, Jahday, to violence in her hometown. "What would have happened with my unfinished work had the evening in Orlando been fatal?" she wonders. "What comes of Jahday's never-to-be-finished poetry and film projects?" 

Jusu's vision is to change the discourse around violence, trauma, mental health, and healing in Trenton. She is planning a community conversation with mental health experts to reimagine ways Trentonians can collectively address the root causes of violence before it happens.

"This is an important and timely project for Trenton," says Gregory Paulson, Executive Director of Trenton Health Team. "We're very proud to be working with Bentrice, the artists, and Artworks to advance the conversation on how we move our community toward healing."

"This exhibit showcases the boundary-pushing innovation of Trenton's own artists," says M'kina Tapscott, Artworks Executive Director. "It's a challenge to our region to invest in our community's creative potential. I'm thrilled that Artworks is the home base of this project."

Additional phases of the project will include installations around the city where specific stories can be viewed, and community conversations around healing, mental health services, and community-based trauma response efforts. More information can be found at www.potentialproject.art. 

The exhibition will be on view at Artworks Trenton from June 14th – July 16th, with an opening reception on June 18th, from 6-8pm. For hours and more information, please go to www.artworkstrenton.org.