I AM. YOU ARE. WE ARE.
FREE TO SPEAK. PROTEST. DISSENT.
DESIGN CONSORTIUM & ACLU OF NEW JERSEY

On view from September 1, 2026, to July 9, 2027

This free and open to the public exhibition grew from a year-long partnership between the Design Consortium (DC) and the ACLU of New Jersey. The DC is a student/faculty creative studio at Express Newark, shaped by a collaboratively engaged design process, and an integral part of the Graphic Design Program in the Department of Arts, Culture and Media.

Rooted in Newark’s legacy of civil rights advocacy and the arts, this exhibition explores how design can help people understand, exercise, and protect their constitutional rights. Across two semesters, the partners explored communication as a process of meaning-making shaped through dialogue, participation, and shared experience, using design-driven research and co-building to generate new ideas, language, messaging, and forms of dissemination.

Bringing together work developed throughout the collaboration with new installations and participatory experiences created specifically for this exhibition, the work presented encourages reflection, conversation, and civic engagement. Visitors are invited to consider not only the constitutional rights explored here, but also the role communication plays in shaping how those rights are understood, exercised, and defended.

Your rights are here.
Know them. Protect them.

Exhibition Design: Jennifer Bernstein, Associate Professor, Creative Director & Designer, Liam L. Gunning, Lead Designer, Chantal Fischzang, Associate Professor Design Consultant

Design Consortium Team: Faculty Lead: Associate Professor Jennifer Bernstein; Student Team: Emily M. Anderson, Nigeria K. Brown, James Dixon, Ashley Escobal, Elizabeth Frias, Liam L. Gunning, Helen E. Jaramillo, Jazmyne T Johnson, Ravin R. Melville, Alyssandre E. Mertz, David M. Ostrovski, Brandon Patino, Francesca I. Rainuzzo, Anthony J. Ramos-Oliveira, Kaviyan Ravindrakumar, Yulisbeth Rojas-Romero, Adriana B. Salazar, Kamara Smith, Trenton K. Soto, Jean Weekes

ACLU of New Jersey Communications Team: Maia Raposo, Communications Director; Paloma L. Aguas, Deputy Communications Director; Mary Del Plato, Digital Communications Strategist