Friday, September 12, 2025

Najee Dorsey: Poor People’s Campaign
ArtRage Gallery

Price: Free
ArtRage Gallery
505 Hawley Ave., Syracuse

Set in the layered world of Najee Dorsey's Poor People's Campaign, this powerful Afrofuturist vision grounded in the environmental struggles of today's impoverished communities. Blending Southern nostalgia with digitally-collaged speculative futures, Dorsey's work unveils a future shaped by environmental racism, industrial pollution, and the resilience of those who endure these atrocities. This exhibition challenges viewers to confront what's hidden in plain sight — smokestacks on the horizon, decaying landscapes, and children at play in dystopian backdrops, unaware, just going about their lives.

Each candid portrayal of a child, each scar of environmental injustice plaguing the earth, is a symbol of ongoing corporate greed, and a masterful fusion of futures transforming the landscape into an intimate battleground. Through these works Dorsey challenges us to consider the true cost of progress and unchecked power.