Bergen Community College: Gallery Exhibition Features Guatemalan Art

Press release from Bergen Community College:

PARAMUS, NJ — Gallery Bergen will unveil its final exhibition of 2025, “Telas de Solidaridad/Threads of Solidarity: Connections to Guatemala,” with an opening reception on Thursday, December 11 at 6 p.m. in Bergen Community College’s art exhibition space on the third floor of West Hall at the institution’s main campus (400 Paramus Road, Paramus).

The exhibit will feature multi-medium artwork from various local Guatemalan artists, ranging from photography of Guatemalan natives to culturally significant hand-woven fabric pieces. With more than 40 percent of Bergen’s student body identifying as Hispanic, Gallery Bergen Director Tim Blunk said the exhibition will celebrate those students, along with the College’s mission of belongingness.

“The inspiration behind this show is our student population, which is largely a first- and second-generation immigrant population,” he said. “We believe all of our students deserve to be seen, recognized and celebrated.”

Presenting artists include Juan Carlos Vail Lucas, Nivia Hernandez, Melida Rodas and Luis Emilio Romero. Grupo Cajolà, a Guatemalan community-led organization founded in Morristown, will also participate in the exhibit. Many of the art pieces will be sold to benefit Grupo Cajolà’s community work in Cajolà’s Mayan Mam-speaking region.

“We hope that they will see themselves in this work and connect to their own family’s journey – no matter where they are from or how long ago these immigration stories began,” said Blunk.

Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

This press release was produced by Bergen Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.