Jersey City, NJ — Creating fearless, thought-provoking work that exposes the beauty and pain of our collective history.
Danielle Scott is a mixed-media assemblage artist who grew up in Jersey City, New Jersey. She holds a BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2001), where she studied under the late great African American artist Jack Whitten. Her work expresses politically and socially charged messaging, exploring the intertwining relationships between social justice, equality, human and women's rights, police brutality, femininity, and culture.
As a woman, a mother, and a self-identified lesbian, Afro-Cuban, Polish Jew in America, Danielle's perspective has been shaped with merciless hands yet has not been tainted by apathy. She creates using photo montage, found objects, paint, raw materials, old books, and collage.
Her work has been acquired by The Newark Museum of Art, Museo Casa de Africa, author Roxanne Gay, the Weissman Family Collection, Whoopi Goldberg, Marlon Nichols, Ken "Duro" Ifill, and Nikole Hannah-Jones. She has exhibited internationally at the Havana Biennial (2024), Africa Week in Paris, and throughout the United States.
In 2025, Danielle was the subject of a PBS American Masters documentary — Danielle Scott: Ancestral Call — and was nominated for a 56th NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Short Documentary.
"I want my work to live on, way past my time on the universe. I want people to say, 'She was telling us something and making us aware of something, and she wasn't afraid to do it.'"
Danielle Scott's work has been featured in national and regional publications, documentaries, and arts media across the country.
Documentaries, artist talks, and collaborations featuring Danielle Scott's practice and perspective.
Danielle Scott's work extends beyond the gallery into the fabric of cities — from large-scale vinyl window installations to civic commissions — placing her art in the hands of communities across New Jersey.
Commissioned by Audible as part of the Newark Artist Collaboration, this series of large-scale vinyl collages honors seven women who built the Newark arts community — including Gladys Barker Grauer, founder of the first Newark gallery dedicated to women artists of color; Eleta J. Caldwell, principal of Arts High School and Danielle's own mentor; and Bisa Washington, sculptor and Danielle's first mentor. Part of the multi-site installation She Made Up Her Mind to Get Free surrounding the newly unveiled Harriet Tubman monument. Facilitated in partnership with Project for Empty Space and Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka.
View the Installation ↗
During Women's History Month, the Newark Public Library issued limited edition library cards featuring work from the Audible Newark Artist Collaboration. Danielle Scott's card features her portrait of Eleta J. Caldwell from the Young, Gifted, and Black series — a tribute to the educator who was principal of Arts High School and whose encouragement shaped Danielle's own path as an artist. Available at all Newark Public Library branches, alongside cards by Kelley Prevard and Shoshanna Weinberger.
View the Card ↗Commissioned as part of the City of Newark's Public Art Program under Mayor Ras J. Baraka, this mural by Danielle Scott honors the wisdom and legacy of elders — the mentors, community leaders, and ancestors whose voices and sacrifices made way for generations of Black artists and communities to take root and flourish. A meditation on lineage, memory, and growth rooted in Scott's deeply personal relationship with her own mentors and Newark's arts community. Documented by the City of Newark's Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.
As part of Legends Way — a public art initiative curated by Newark-based organization YENDOR and commissioned by PSE&G — Danielle Scott created a circular ground-level pavement medallion honoring AARD Studio Gallery (Est. 1972), one of the pioneering Black arts institutions in the region. Inscribed "Black Woman in Visual Perspective," the medallion design features a portrait silhouette and a striding figure, rendered in contrasting light and dark stone tile and embedded directly into the plaza walkway. The Legends Way project transformed the perimeter of the new PSE&G Nye Avenue Substation into a permanent community landmark, celebrating Irvington's history and legacy through original public art. The installation was unveiled August 29, 2025.
Read the Press Release ↗Danielle Scott was commissioned to create an elevator mural for NJPAC's reimagined campus in downtown Newark, one of several new public artworks unveiled as part of the performing arts center's landmark expansion. The mural's title has not yet been announced. Part of the Stories and Sound, Movement and Community public art initiative, the work will greet visitors within the heart of one of the region's most celebrated cultural institutions.
Read the Announcement ↗Unveiled by Mayor Ras J. Baraka, this nearly 250-foot site-specific mural is a vibrant love letter to Newark — celebrating the resilience, leadership, and historical legacy of Black men in the city. Originally crafted as an 18" × 300" studio piece, the work was scaled to the Central Avenue wall and informed by the concept of Sankofa — looking back to move forward. Drawing from archival sources including the Newark Public Library's Charles F. Cummings Research Center and family photo collections, the mural features a "who's who" of Newark leadership — Amiri Baraka, Amina Baraka, Donald Tucker, Robert Curvin, and Ken Gibson — alongside contemporary portraits. Interlaced throughout are hand-painted flowers Scott photographed while documenting her heritage in Cuba, symbolizing cycles of growth and remembrance. Commissioned by Director fayemi shakur and coordinated by Rebecca Pauline Jampol of Project for Empty Space.
Read the Article ↗Danielle Scott is among the artists selected by the City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Newark Arts Education Roundtable for an ongoing group public art project creating murals for historical storefronts across Newark. This commission continues her deep engagement with Newark's built environment and community history.
View the Announcement ↗60+ works spanning 2018–2026, organized by series. Contact to inquire about available pieces.
Danielle Scott is available for commissions, exhibitions, collaborations, and press inquiries.
Danielle has been an Art Teacher at the Academy of the Arts at Henry Snyder High School in Jersey City since 2001, shaping the next generation of artists while continuing to push the boundaries of her own practice.
She was taught and mentored by the late Jack Whitten, one of America's most celebrated abstract artists, during her time at the School of Visual Arts.
Her studio at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City serves as the birthplace of all her major series, a space where she communes with ancestral spirits and transforms their stories into art.