Women in the Heights: Shade

17th annual exhibition
CURATED BY ANDREA AROYYO

OPENING RECEPTION
Wednesday February 25, 2026 – 6-8pm

NoMAA Gallery
4140 Broadway (176 St)

PARTICIPATING ARTISTS from Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood:

Yael Ben-Zion, Gina K Callaghan, Arcadia Caraballo, Gwendolen Cates, Karin Dando-Haenisch, Rose Deler, Carol Diamond, Dale Emmart-Lieberman, Kat Gooch-Breault, Wilhemina Grant-Cooper, Jyoti Gupta, Alison Hamilton, Avery Hines-Mudry, Kathy Houle, Carolina Jimenez , Flor Khan, Chae Kihn, Andrea Kornbluth, Christy Martinez, Francesca Messina, Margo Moore, Rosa Naparstek, Mesoma Hammida Onyeagba, Paula Maria Persiani, Bonnie Jean Phillips, Leah Poller, Liz Ritter, Yumi Rodriguez, Darcy Rogers, Susan Rubin, Anne Saint-Pierre, Diana Schmertz, Maria Schoenhammer, Uniqua Simmons, Elizabeth Starčević, Janet Stewart, Kathleen Sweeney, Tania Taubes, Rafaelina Tineo, April Kristine Tsosie, Yona Verwer, Linda Vigdor 

Shade explores the intersections of light and shadow—literal, social, and emotional. In every culture and community, shade carries layered meanings: it can offer refuge or concealment, protection or defiance, acceptance, or rejection.

From throwing shade to sheltering in shade, from colorism in race to color range in art, shade speaks to power, presence, and the unseen forces that shape how we move through the world.

How does shade define visibility? How do we navigate the tension between exposure and cover, clarity and ambiguity, belonging and otherness?