An artistic Gallery companion to the film American Graveyard
October 1 - October 25, 2026
Images speak a universal language that stretches across time. Without them, a person, a truth, a story or a place can be easily lost—history can be erased.
Black Cherry Lane: Presence preserves and reawakens a vital chapter of Black history. A history buried so deep that many people are unaware of its very existence.
The exhibit presents an experiential multidisciplinary journey that reimagines the lost community of Cherry Lane Cemetery— a historic former African-American burial ground on Staten Island that was paved over and is now a strip mall.
The location of the remains is unknown.
About the exhibition
Thomas Doyle – Ascension – Miniature Sculpture Lazarus Nazario - Oil Study Beverly Smith — Textile artist in studio
Empire Outlets
55 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, Ny 10301
Artist/curator Lazarus Nazario brings together contemporary artists, descendent voices, and community engagement to change the understanding of how Black history unfolded on Staten Island. By giving presence to this lost community we are reclaiming these once-forgotten voices.
The program features painters, quilters, sculptors, miniaturists, poets, musicians, photograhers and oral historians—whose work has been featured at the Brooklyn Museum, Poster House Museum and the Smithsonian.
Participating artists were filmed working in their studios for the documentary American Graveyard, directed by award-winning filmmaker Heather Quinlan—integrating the exhibition into the film.
Artists In Black Cherry Lane: Presence
OUr Partners
A vital aspect of this exhibition is our partnership with the Staten Island Museum, Historic Richmond Town, and the Staten Island chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.
Archival materials on display will show documented proof of Cherry Lane Cemetery’s existence as well as the AME Zion church that once stood there; bringing the past full circle with the present.
The exhibition creates an educational experience rooted in local history, and makes available to the public a place where history meets the depth of discussion and celebration that only art can inspire.
The project has received support from the Staten Island Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Santander Bank, Sherwin-Williams , The Lucius & Eva Eastman Foundation and additional institutions and private donors.
Black Cherry Lane: Presence is made possible by a DCLA Art Fund Grant from Staten Island Arts, with public funding from the New York Department of Cultural Affairs.