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Reimagining Memorial Spaces: A Black History Month Conversation
Join Van Cortlandt Park Alliance for a live, virtual conversation with designers Immanuel Oni and Jeremiah Olayinka Ojo exploring the project, Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground in Van Cortlandt Park, and the importance of working thoughtfully with memorial spaces.
As part of Black History Month, Van Cortlandt Park Alliance invites you to a live, panel-style conversation reflecting on Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground project and the broader responsibilities, challenges, and possibilities of working with memorial spaces rooted in Black history.
This conversation will focus on process, examining how artists, designers, and communities engage with sites of memory, trauma, and legacy, and why intentional, community-centered approaches matter when shaping public spaces of remembrance.
The discussion will be moderated by VCPA’s Arts Integration Strategist, Ashley Hart Adams, and feature designers Immanuel Oni and Jeremiah Olayinka Ojo, who are currently working on the project, Reimagining the Enslaved African Burial Ground in Van Cortlandt Park.
The event will be hosted live on Zoom. Admission is free and open to the public. The conversation will be recorded and later published on Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s YouTube channel.
Panelists:
Immanuel Oni is a first-generation Nigerian-American artist and space doula based in New York City, originally from Houston, TX. His work explores loss, legacy, and place through themes rooted in Black and Indigenous life, death, and diaspora.
Using spatial justice design and visual storytelling, Immanuel Oni repurposes public infrastructure, natural elements, and mobile spaces to prompt community dialogue, healing, and ritual. His work has been presented internationally in Venice, Hong Kong, and Lagos.
He has been a Fellow with Design Trust for Public Space, Culture Push, and New York for Culture & Arts, and has received awards from the New York State Council of the Arts and the Architectural League of New York. His public art commissions include the Chrystie Street African Burial Ground Memorial Installation and the New Jersey Monument to Migration and Labor (Southern Region). He is a former Director of Community Design at NYC’s Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice and an Adjunct Professor at Parsons School of Design. He is also the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Liminal, a nonprofit working at the intersection of art, unity, and space.
Jeremiah Olayinka Ojo is an artist, entrepreneur, and educator committed to empowering African diasporic communities through art, community development, and business education. He is the Founder of Creative Milieu, a global art business advisory firm, and Ilèkùn Wa (Our Doors), a community-centered artist advisory for visual artists of African descent.
With over a decade of experience, Jeremiah is a sought-after expert in arts and business management, offering insights into artist career development, business strategies, and arts education. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Georgia State University and a Master’s in Art Business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and has lectured at institutions including Columbia University.
Black History Month events are part of Van Cortlandt Park Alliance’s REIMAGINING initiative. In partnership with the Design Trust for Public Space and Immanuel Oni, Liminal Sp, VCPA invites the community to reimagine the park’s Enslaved African Burial Ground site as a memorial space that fosters long-term healing and restoration. This project is supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation.
