Bridge Art Gallery in Bayonne is exhibiting work by artists of color to mark Black History Month. 

“We take up space with like our bodies and our soul,” says co-owner Cheryl Mack. 

Mack and her husband, Christopher, wanted to create a place where conversation is only about art when they opened up their gallery. 

“It's almost like movement happening in some sort of way,” says artist and co-owner Christopher Mack. 

The gallery is a home for artists of color to exhibit their work.

"I always dreamed about showing my work at a gallery or a museum, and I never knew how to do that, never was presented the opportunity to do that,” says Christopher Mack. "Now I can provide opportunities for other artists to be able to show their work."

On display are works by nearly 20 artists in an exhibit called Expressive Creative Soul. 

The exhibit is based around a timely theme: art that shows how people have expressed joy and resistance during the pandemic and civil unrest. 

The theme may be tied to current events, but Expressive Creative Soul is not new.

"This exhibit began in 2016 and had become an annual Black History Month tradition,” says Cheryl Mack. 

The exhibit features both established artists and upcoming artists, bringing the next generation of artists of color onto the gallery walls.  

Expressive Creative Soul is on view and open to the public for weekend gallery visits free of charge and weekdays by appointment through Feb. 26.