gleamin': And none is barren among them

NorthStar Church of the Arts is proud to present gleamin’: And none is barren among them, a solo exhibition by Majesty Royale-Jackson. A multimedia installation combining sculpture, sound, and video projection, this body of work explores transformation as a technology of survival and self-determination. At the center, the artist alchemizes tobacco leaves into flamboyant mouth adornments: grillz. The exhibition places the sacred significance and history of colonial extraction of Carolina tobacco \(nicknamed “gold leaf”\) alongside the flamboyant adornment of grillz in Southern hip-hop.⁣ Through the creative repurposing of materials, gleamin’ considers how Black and Indigenous people transform the conditions of coloniality into expressions of autonomy, adornment, and possibility.

Selected through a rigorous open call process, this is the third and final exhibition of NorthStar’s 2026 Spotlight Exhibition Series, which supports local emerging artists in producing their first solo exhibition.

The exhibition will feature three free public programs:

Opening Reception on Friday, November 13, 5-9PM;

Artist Talk as Performance with guest artist Sia Moon, Thursday, November 19, 6-8PM

Getting Free Workshop, Sunday, November 22, 1-4PM

With additional open gallery hours:

Saturday, November 14, 1-5PM

Sunday, November 15, 2-5PM

Tuesday, November 17, 2-6PM

Friday, November 20, 5-8PM

Saturday, November 21, 1-5PM

Majesty Royale-Jackson \(they/them\) is a Black Seminole performance maker and installationist working in dance, sound art, and digital media. Based in Durham, NC, they create interdisciplinary works for theatres, galleries, and public spaces, drawing on Black Indigenous queer technologies that traverse archival sources through universes seen and unseen. Remixing, improvisation, call & response, and creative misuse emerge from dance floors and church basements as methods for transforming collective memory and imagining more fugitive ways of being.

Located in Durham, NC, NorthStar Church of the Arts \(est. 2019\) is a multidisciplinary arts organization dedicated to art, community, and care. The Spotlight Exhibition Series is made possible in part by the Triangle Community Foundation’s Cultural Arts Grant.