On View
Central District Legacy:
Black. Power. Black Panthers.
May 6, 2026 - August 2, 2026
Curatorial Statement:
Rooted in legacy, endowed with power, and unmistakably Black, Central District Legacy: Black. Power. Black Panthers. honors the Seattle Black Panther Party and the enduring cultural force of Seattle’s Central District (CD). As the first Black Panther Party chapter established outside California, the Seattle chapter—founded in spring 1968—worked to protect, preserve, activate, and sustain revolutionary resolve in the pursuit of resources, dignity, and self-determination for Black people. The chapter endured until 1978, leaving an imprint that continues to shape civic life, cultural memory, and community care in Seattle and beyond.
Created by a coalition of Seattle activists, the Seattle Black Panther Party advanced community justice and built models of mutual aid that raised political consciousness throughout the Central District. This exhibition centers that legacy through the visions of its artists—inviting viewers to see, imagine, and embody Blackness, Power, and the history of the Black Panthers. Individually and collectively, the works created by Charles Conner, Toni Toney, Thadeus Hunnicutt, Tasanee Durrett, Ed-Lamarr Petion, and others offer a visual narrative of youth solidarity; activism by any means necessary; the vibrancy of color; the enduring charge of the raised Black Power fist; and the panther itself—an emblem of protection, prowess, and uncompromising Blackness.
From Oakland to Seattle’s CD—and across Detroit, Chicago, New York, Texas, and beyond—the Black Panther legacy is carried through networks of care, organizing, and cultural production. In Seattle, that legacy is reflected in the impacts of programs such as the Children’s Free Breakfast Program and institutions such as the Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center, as well as in iconic activists, poets, and teachers like Aaron Dixon. With roots reaching from William Grose to Zoë Dusanne, and from Quincy Jones to Anthony Ray “Sir Mix-a-Lot,” the Central District’s ripples continue to travel outward. Together, the works in this exhibition hold those histories with reverence while activating them in the present—affirming Central District Legacy: Black. Power. Black Panthers, as both remembrance and living resolve.
ART GALLERY
Meet the Artists
BIO
Achille “A.J.” Barbel is a multidisciplinary artist and designer with a passion for visual storytelling. Born in St. Thomas, USVI, and raised in Florida and Chicago, A.J. developed a keen eye for detail early on, using art as both a creative outlet and a means of expression.
With an Associate of Fine Arts from Valencia College and a Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design and Media Arts from Southern New Hampshire University, he merges traditional illustration with digital craftsmanship. Inspired by artists like Salvador Dalí, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Pablo Picasso, his work often incorporates symbolism—subtle or bold—to provoke thought and emotion.
BIO
Jon Brick, also known as Jonathan Brickous Sr., is a versatile Baltimore-based contemporary artist and entrepreneur. With expertise in painting, body art, graphic design, and graffiti art, Jon blends self-taught techniques with formal education, having earned a bachelor's degree in Graphic Design in 2007. His work serves as a reflection of his life experiences, pushing boundaries and challenging societal norms, while also celebrating his love for Black culture.
Jon is passionate about sharing his skills and knowledge with the next generation of artists. As a high school art teacher in Baltimore City, he fosters creativity in young minds through a youth-led collective called Cre8tive Xpression. Additionally, Jon offers creative workshops for both children and adults, both online and in person, throughout the DMV area. His original works of art are available for purchase through his social media platforms and local spaces, further extending his influence within the community.
BIO
Charles Conner aka The Original Spur has been an artist since the age of four. He first learned to draw Ninja Turtles from his siblings and was hooked ever since.
Joining the military at the age of 17 to help provide funds in a small town that offered little in the way of employment, he would eventually be called into active duty forcing him to drop out of college for a tour in Iraq .
When his time in the army ended, he spent years battling with bouts of PTSD. He now uses his creativity and imagination to create one of a kind abstract pieces filled with vibrant colors and a semi realistic interpretation from a black man's perspective.
Creativity, Positivity, and Individuality. Welcome to the journey of The Original Spur!
BIO
Durrett (b. 1994) is a Chicago-born architect and abstract figurative artist based in Central Florida. Working across mixed-media painting and sculpture, her practice explores identity, lineage, and psychological healing within the Black diaspora. Grounded in her training in architecture, where she earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Arizona, Durrett approaches each surface as a constructed space shaped by memory, movement, and lived experience.
In 2022, painting became central to her practice as a means of recovery and self-reconstruction following an eight-year abusive relationship. Since then, her work has focused on repair, using the figure, continuous contour linework, and natural materials, to explore how connection, care, and resilience are rebuilt after rupture. Her work often centers the head and neck as sites of memory, emotion, and identity, informed by research into Black psychology and embodied experience.
Durrett’s work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, Orlando Museum of Art, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Mint Museum, Art Basel Miami, and EXPO Chicago. Her work has been featured in 1919 Mag, Blacque, Sugarcane Magazine, and the Orlando Foundation for Architecture archives.
BIO
Serron Green is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the layered realities of Black American life through a fusion of history, rebellion, and reclamation.
Raised in Newark during the height of the Black Power movement and the golden age of graffiti, Green’s practice is deeply rooted in the tension between invisibility and hypervisibility—the simultaneous erasure and magnification of Black existence in American culture.
Green’s earliest creative impulses emerged from childhood play and comic book illustration. In his teens, a chance encounter with graffiti culture ignited a lifelong passion for unbounded expression: “Graffiti had all of the things most young teenagers wanted—it was expressive, it had no rules, and it was freeing.” This freedom became foundational to his philosophy as an artist and as a man shaped by both the struggles and the triumphs of Black America.
Over the years, Green’s material language has evolved to include paper, canvas, reclaimed wood, enamel, and found objects. His work has appeared in major exhibitions across the United States, including the Newark Museum of Art, Affordable Art Fair New York, LA Art Show, and Scope Art Fair during Miami Art Week.
His practice continues to expand across series such as Young Leroi—a tribute to Amiri Baraka—and Protected by the Red, Black, and Green, inspired by David Hammons’ African American flag. Green cites artistic influences including Jean Michel Basquiat, Dana Chandler, Kerry James Marshall, Radcliffe Bailey, Henry Taylor, and Gary Simmons—all of whom shaped his layered approach to narrative, symbolism, and social commentary.
His creative process is both intuitive and research-driven: “I’m easily inspired by what I see and hear. I gather as much data as I can on an idea, and then it’s just a matter of making it two or three dimensional.” His studio operates like an assembly line of imagination, where multiple works take shape simultaneously. The culmination of each piece, he says, is “the most enjoyable part—when what I had in my mind is right there in front of me.”
Travel, community, and memory all play vital roles in Green’s evolution. His journeys
across Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas reinforced his belief in art as a tool for transformation. Yet, Newark remains his anchor and muse: “The city and its people have
a bad reputation, but being from Newark, I know better. It has a rich history and some extremely gifted and amazing people. When I see them and the city, I see myself.” Through his body of work, Green offers a visual vocabulary that confronts erasure while celebrating rebirth. The Black butterfly—a recurring motif symbolizes that ongoing cycle: “We die every day, literally and metaphorically, and have to get up and go on as if nothing happened. The butterfly represents that daily rebirth.”
Green’s ability to collapse the boundaries between fine art and street culture has earned him recognition at institutions such as, The afore mentioned Newark Museum, The Black Panther Party Museum and galleries across the country. He is also included in the permanent collections of The Huey P. Newton foundation, The Thelonis Monk foundation. As well as numerous private collections across the United States and abroad.
BIO
Thaddeus Hunnicutt is a highly accomplished and well-known artist from the Seattle area. Thaddeus grew up in the rich culture of Seattle’s Central area Neighborhood in the 90s, attending many cultural arts festivals, such as Festival Sundiata. This shaped and influenced his art style. Thaddeus has developed a unique multimedia style that includes African art, sacred geometry patterns, and vibrant colors. Thaddeus has an art and design degree from Seattle Central Community College and has been vending as a professional artist at many festivals on the West Coast for over 15 years.
BIO
Tafy LaPlanche is a Queens, New York, USA-based Afro-Latina artist known for her bold, vibrant portraits that celebrate the uniqueness of her subjects. Her journey into art began in an unexpected place—hospitalized at thirteen with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, she was handed paper and a pen while others played video games. From that moment, drawing became her way of understanding the world.
Her artistic path took an unexpected turn when she enrolled in a Mandarin-speaking art school. Despite the language barrier, she discovered the profound power of visual storytelling. Of Haitian descent, Tafy had initially been encouraged to paint idyllic Caribbean landscapes—but everything shifted during a study abroad trip in Tuscany. One afternoon, while painting a landscape, she was suddenly stung by a bee over her eyelid and lost her sight. An elderly local woman took her in, pressing an onion over her eye to soothe the sting. As her vision gradually returned, Tafy became captivated not by the scenery, but by the woman tending her chickens, caring for a stranger, and simply living her life. It was in that moment she realized what she truly wanted to paint: people, their lives, and their stories.
Watching everyday life unfold in a foreign land, and placing her trust in strangers, she realized the depth and universality of human connection.
Through her work, Tafy uses portraiture to tell stories without words—stories that transcend language, geography, and identity. Her paintings have been featured in galleries across the United States, including a solo exhibition at the prestigious Telfair Museums.
With every brushstroke, Tafy LaPlanche continues to honor individuality and human connection—one vibrant portrait at a time.
BIO
Crystal Noir is an Afro-Caribbean contemporary artist working in surreal figuration. Her practice explores the psychological and physical impact of environment on the body, often using the figure as a vessel through which memory, pressure, and transformation are made visible. Rooted in the Black diasporic experience, her work engages themes of containment, rupture, and resilience.
Her recent work expands into material-driven approaches, using indigo as both a visual and conceptual field to investigate how bodies are shaped by external forces. Noir’s figures are often partially obscured, fragmented, or dissolving, emphasizing tension between presence and erasure.
She has exhibited internationally, and continues to develop a body of work that bridges narrative, symbolism, and material experimentation.
BIO
Ed-Lamarr Petion is a multidisciplinary artist and storyteller exploring identity, mythology, and pop culture through a distinctly Black lens. As a Haitian American who grew up in the DMV and now lives in the Pacific Northwest, Ed-Lamarr brings a diasporic perspective to his work, one rooted in history, imagination, and the need to create space for the unseen.
In 2023, he committed to making a new piece of art every day from January through June, with monthly themes ranging from abstract explorations of the seven deadly sins to nostalgic cartoon tributes, emotional states, and portraits of iconic Black creatives and athletes. That discipline helped to refine his voice and expand the scope of his practice.
BIO
Toni Toney is a visual artist based in Montgomery, Alabama. She works primarily in acrylic and mixed media, combining portraiture and collage to explore memory and everyday life.
Her work has been shown at the African American Museum in Dallas, Texas, the Rosa Parks Museum, and internationally at the Urban Art Fair in Paris. She is an award-winning artist whose work is included in collections such as Joan Trumpauer, BK Fulton and Heather Watts. Toney is also an art educator, and her practice is shaped by both her personal experiences and the people she works with.