Faces of America
Exhibition Details
Title: Faces of America
Artist: Selena Noir Jackson
Curator: Babatunde Olufon
Location: Rhizome, 6950 Maple St NW, Washington, DC
Dates: January 11, 2026 - February 1, 2026
Opening Reception: January 11th, 2-5pm
Artist Talk: January 15th, 2-3:30pm
Workshop: January 20th, Time TBA
Closing: February 1st, 2-5pm
Rhizome Presents “Faces of America,” a Solo Exhibition by Selena Noir Jackson
A Living Archive of Untold Stories and Contemporary Identity
Curated by: Babatunde Olufon
Washington, D.C. - January 11th, 2026 February 1st, 2026.
Rhizome is honored to present Faces of America, a solo exhibition by artist Selena Noir Jackson, curated by Babatunde Olufon, on view from January 11, 2026 to February 1, 2026. Bringing together an expansive series of intimate oil portraits, Jackson maps the complexity of American identity through the lived experiences of the people she encounters friends, artists, neighbors, migrants, and community members whose stories often go untold.
Faces of America stands as a counter-narrative to the reductive stereotypes and oversimplified categories that dominate mainstream media. Jackson’s portraits affirm dignity, visibility, and individual truth through a practice she describes as an “act of rebellion against the threat of erasure.” Each work is built through closeness, conversation, and care, forming a nuanced mosaic of identities across the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region and beyond.
“I paint the people who shape me; those whose stories deserve more than passing attention,” Jackson says. “This project honors everyday truth, the fullness of identity, and the complexity of being seen.”
Curator Babatunde Olufon is highlighting and emphasizing the relational and archival dimensions of Jackson’s practice. “Selena’s work represents a profound commitment to bearing witness,” Olufon notes.
“These portraits function as both intimate encounters and historical documents; a testament to the communities and individuals who define this moment in American life.”
The exhibition includes portraits of Black Americans, immigrants, transgender and nonbinary individuals, activists, and artists whose intersectional identities challenge assumptions about what it means to be American. From Var, a Russian-American transgender artist resisting erasure, to Felicia, who speaks to balance and rest as forms of resistance for Black women, to Niki, a nonbinary Iranian American activist for Palestinian rights, Jackson’s subjects reflect the layered realities of contemporary life.
Across the series, Jackson constructs a “geography of belonging” a portrait of Washington, D.C. outside political caricature. Her paintings honor the city’s evolving cultural landscape, from Anacostia roots to immigrant neighborhoods to artist communities. They document shifting histories while preserving emotional landscapes, cultural memory, and the texture of relationship.
What sets Jackson’s work apart is the depth of connection behind many portraits. Longstanding friendships, such as her 14-year relationship with Michaelanne from Anacostia, generate portraits filled with authenticity and lived knowledge. Her choice to paint artists including Lew, Roxxy, Paulino, Var, and Niki reflects her investment in creative communities and mutual recognition across marginalized groups.
Through what she calls an “ethics of witnessing,” Jackson looks closely at those whom society often overlooks. Her portraits capture not just appearance but the social forces, personal stakes, and global contexts shaping her subjects’ lives from refugee experiences and anti-Zionist identity to queer activism and Indigenous heritage.
Together, the works in Faces of America form a living archive of this moment in American history. As they age, these portraits will stand as documents of how people navigated identity, belonging, and political change offering future viewers an intimate record of contemporary American life.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Selena Noir Jackson is a Washington, D.C. born fine artist whose practice centers portraiture, figuration, and the complex, intersecting layers of identity in contemporary America. Working primarily in oil paint, Noir blends classical technique with a deeply research-driven, community-rooted approach, resulting in portraits that are both intimate and expansive. Noir’s work is grounded in close attention, lived relationships, and the ethical responsibility of witnessing others with care.
Shaped by her/ their upbringing in the nation’s capital, Noir’s artistry is inseparable from the cultural, political, and ancestral landscapes of D.C. A child of the city, Noir has long been attentive to the ways communities survive, adapt, and express themselves within shifting social conditions. This sensitivity informs Noir’s portrait practice, which refuses reduction, stereotype, or aesthetic flattening. Instead, Noir seeks to honor the multiplicity inherent in every human being. Their sitters are presented not as symbols but as individuals whose stories carry weight, stories often overlooked, misrepresented, or erased.
Noir’s body of work is deeply informed by themes of race, beauty, lineage, belonging, and cultural memory. Their investigations frequently move between personal narrative and broader systemic concerns, linking the intimate to the historical. Likewise, their engagement with ancestral mapping and global diasporic narratives reflects a commitment to understanding identity as both lived and inherited.
Noir has built a practice rooted in community connection, representation, and cultural stewardship. She/They are a Resident Artist at Red Dirt Studio, part of the Gateway Arts District, and a recipient of the 2024–2025 DC Arts and Humanities Commission’s Artist Humanities Fellowship Program, which has supported research into portraiture as a living archive. Their work has been included in private collections, including The Fonb Collection, and continues to grow through commissions, community partnerships, and collaborations with fellow artists and organizers.
In all aspects of their work painting, research, and community engagement Noir is committed to creating images that honor the fullness of human experience. Their artistry insists on visibility, dignifies complexity, and asserts that every story deserves to be witnessed with care.
