Episode 104: Building Artistic Shelter with Jin Jung

Written By Nathalie Kalbach

About This Episode

In this episode, we explore how art can preserve forgotten histories and create a sense of belonging through conversation with visual artist Jin Jung, whose WERE HERE project places handmade blue ceramic markers throughout Jersey City to commemorate overlooked historical figures and events.

Meet Jin Jung

Jin Jung is a visual artist, educator at NJCU, and creator of the WERE HERE project. Born in Seoul, Korea and having moved to the US at age 11, Jin uses public art to explore community history and create connections to place. Her handmade ceramic markers throughout Jersey City honor forgotten histories while creating what she calls "shelters for stories that might otherwise fade away."

Connect with Jin Jung:

Key Insights

  • Jin began the WERE HERE project with photographer Duquann Sweeney to commemorate forgotten figures in Jersey City history

  • The handmade ceramic plaques serve as temporary markers that invite official recognition of these important stories

  • As an immigrant, Jin uses art and historical research to build her own relationship with Jersey City

  • The WERE HERE plaques honor figures including Cliff Joseph (founder of the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition), Betty Shabazz (Malcolm X's widow who studied at NJCU), and the site of the African Burial Ground

  • The project's title intentionally functions as both "we are here" and "were here," connecting past and present

  • Community reactions have been largely positive, with residents often helping maintain the markers

  • Jin views the changing city as inevitable but believes understanding its history helps us better understand who we are and our responsibilities as residents

Visual Documentation

Navroze Mody Marker held by Duqann Sweeney and Jin Jung - photo curtesy of WERE HERE

111 First Street Marker - Jin Jung with Elaine Hansen (artist of 111 1st Street from 1990 to 2005) and David Goodwin (author of the book, Left Bank of the Hudson: Jersey City and the Artists of 111 1st Street) - Photo curtesy of WERE HERE

Hidden Footsteps by Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham - documentary about Jersey City's African American history that informed some of Jin's and Duquann’s research

Related Resources

Explore Further

Visit my Substack for the show notes with photos and an upcoming article that dives even deeper in the markers and what they mean for the community.

Coming Up Next

Join me for a conversation with Jersey City music legend and cultural chronicler Tris McCall as we explore how songwriting, journalism, and deep local knowledge combine to document a city's changing identity. Tris brings unique insights into Jersey City's cultural landscape through his decades of artistic and journalistic work.

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Nat's Sidewalk Stories explores the intersection of place, community, and storytelling through conversations with practitioners, community leaders, and local changemakers. New episodes release on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month through August, with a break in September before Season 2 begins in October.

Full Transcript

Nat's Sidewalk Stories: Building Artistic Shelters - Space, Performance, and Community with Jin Jung

Note: This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and readability while preserving the conversation's content and meaning.

Nat Kalbach: Welcome to Nat's Sidewalk Stories where we explore the places, people, and hidden histories that make our neighborhoods vibrant. I am Nat Kalbach, an artist and storyteller walking these streets with you to discover the stories beneath our feet.

Today I'm thrilled to welcome visual artist Jin Jung, whose ceramic markers throughout Jersey City commemorate overlooked and forgotten histories as part of her WERE HERE project. Jin's work exists in that fascinating space between art, history, and community activism, creating what she calls shelters for stories that might otherwise fade away.

As an immigrant artist myself, I was immediately drawn to how Jin uses art to connect with place and build her own relationship with Jersey City. Her handmade blue ceramic plaques honor everything from the African Burial Ground to the Frederick Douglas Film Company, to Betty Shabazz's time as a student at NJCU. Jin's perspective on finding home through understanding local history resonates deeply with my own journey. So let's dive into our conversation about art, belonging and the power of remembering.

I'm so happy to have you, Jin. How are you?

Jin Jung: I'm good. Thank you so much, Nathalie. I'm so excited to be here too.

Nat Kalbach: So, Jin, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself and your artwork?

Jin Jung: I will try my best, I'm not the best at describing my practice, but I can say a little bit about myself. My name is Jin and I am a resident of Jersey City. I am an artist and I recently became an educator. I teach at NJCU, and used to be a designer. Maybe I still am.

I guess I should describe a little bit about how we met because it describes my art practice. I met Nat through Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, and I met Chris at Jersey City Conservancy. I heard Jerome when we went to a talk or conversation about African Americans in Jersey City or something like that. And then Jerome wasn't even speaking, but he was just talking to other people about African Burial Ground in the audience.

And I was like, who are you and what is this? And then I just started to listen to what he was saying. And then I was like, this can't be true. And then when I got home, I started to do some research and I was like, this might be real, I can't believe it. I just randomly heard this from a stranger in the audience, not even from the panelist.

And Jerome, I think with Chris, wanted to put up a sign for African Burial Ground for some time. I didn't really know their relationship, but I had been working on this project called WERE HERE, Jersey City with my friend Duquann. Duquann Sweeney is a photographer and he has been pretty active in the community organizing scene in Jersey City.

And so I knew Duquann through bicycling. We were on the same tour when we were doing the master plan of Jersey City. So we both live in Greenville. So we were on the same tour and I got to know him just by biking around. And then I was like, we should do something together one day and then I started the WERE HERE Project because I wanted to put up a sign for this particular artist who lived in Jersey City who never got recognized. And so Duquann very generously said, yes, I'll help you. So we started putting up signs for those who we considered the unacknowledged or forgotten people of this area.

And then Duquann had posted a picture of the African Burial Ground on a map. And I was like, wow, we should do something. And then I think because we were getting some momentum with the WERE HERE project, Chris had reached out to Duquann and he was asking if we want to do something together because I think we could make the African Burial Ground sign a reality if we work together. So we did, we put those up and it was wonderful because it felt like no one else was gonna do anything about it.

So this is the type of project that I do. I work in public. I like to work with community history, public history. I am interested in people's history because as we were talking earlier, I am an immigrant. I am also not from Jersey City, I was born in Seoul, Korea. And I think having those big jumps in location, especially at kind of crucial moments in my life – I was 11 when we moved to New Jersey from Korea. So it was kind of when I was becoming almost like a person. I was a tween I guess.

And when I moved to – I mean I went to schools elsewhere and then I came back to New Jersey and when I moved to Jersey City, I moved here because my now husband and I were together and we wanted to move in together. These things made me question where I was, question my place in a place. I'm interested in the history of a place that I'm living in because I thought it would help me understand who I was. I don't know if that sounds familiar to you. But I did this in a weird way, thinking that it was a self portrait of sort.

Nat Kalbach: As you said, that is a really tough age to move, at any place. But I feel like learning about the history and learning about what came before the people that are here now kind of helps me understand my surrounding better and it gives more breath and that I can identify with some of the stories and the struggles and I can understand where the city comes from and then makes me actually relate to it better.

And also like it better. For me the research is kind of like falling in love with the city. I came here in 2013 from Germany. So for me, this is a way to connect with what's there, because I feel it's so hard. As you are, you have a husband who has connections to Jersey City and I have a husband who's from New Jersey as well. So the connections that you have when you are in a new town, then through someone else, that's them, right? Like how do you make your own connections? Did you feel that way a little bit too?

Jin Jung: Exactly. I did feel exactly that. Jon, my husband has a very big Jersey City persona?

Nat Kalbach: Don't they all.

Jin Jung: Yeah, like most people from Jersey City. So, Jon is in this band called the Rye Coalition. And they were the, I don't wanna say the original, but they were just like quintessential, you know, Jersey City punk band from the nineties.

And I think if you asked someone deep in the Jersey City music scene, like they might say, oh, the Rye Coalition as one of the Jersey City bands that you know is so Jersey City, no one else can be more Jersey City than them. You know, that kind of band. So every time I interacted with a person that I may be meeting for the first time, when we moved to Jersey City, it was always through this lens of Jon and his band.

I only met people in the music scene. I didn't really meet anyone outside of that. And I was always seen as like, oh, it's Jon from Rye Coalition's girlfriend. And that makes you feel very small and very incomplete as a person. And I didn't know what to do with that feeling. It was a feeling that I was very familiar with as an immigrant.

Always feeling like it was someone else's place that I was borrowing. So it was difficult to escape that. I did not practice my art for a very long time. Because I was working as an artist assistant to two very busy artists and I was mostly working for them in Manhattan. Sometimes I would travel abroad for their installations. But I didn't have a community of artists that I can call my own in Jersey City. I may have had friends kind of around the northeast or something like that, but not close enough in proximity. So I had a difficult time like seeing who I was or where I was.

I don't wanna say the pandemic was a good thing because obviously it was a terrible thing for the world. But it did have me reexamine a lot of things. Especially because of the fact that I was living in Greenville when the pandemic happened and when I was no longer traveling to Manhattan every day to work. The things that I got to see more clearly without the haste allowed me to explore my curiosity better and to use this opportunity to feel, learn to feel at home.

Nat Kalbach: So that makes total sense. So, you were mentioning that you started doing this project with Duquann, who I believe grew up in Jersey City. Right.

Jin Jung: Yes.

Nat Kalbach: Wonderful photographer, if you haven't seen his work, check it out online. I will put it in the show notes. He recently had an exhibition of some very touching and amazing photos in the new Communipaw Library.

And so, having someone by your side who would do this project together, how did you two decide which historical figures and stories you wanted to highlight with WERE HERE?

Jin Jung: Yeah, I wanna say it was much more spontaneous, but it was not, it was very researched. So in the beginning, the first ever site that was chosen was for Cliff Joseph on Bergen Avenue. I know you live close by. So that site, I started to do research about the Black Emergency Cultural Coalition, which was the organization that Cliff Joseph had founded. He has now passed.

So in 2017 before anything, I saw a show at the Whitney and it was about activism and protest against art institutions and Black Emergency Coalition protested against the Whitney Museum itself. And they protested obviously because of the lack of black representation at Whitney.

It started as protests against the Metropolitan Museum of Art when they had a show called Harlem of My Mind, but they included no black artists. I think that was '69 or '70 or something like that. And then Whitney protest was '71. So once I saw that, Whitney displayed the letterhead with the Jersey City address on their letterhead. That's when I was like, I wanna know more. And I was doing research for some time.

So when I contacted Duquann, I was already making a sign. This was during the pandemic, the very beginning months of the pandemic. I decided that I wanted to learn how to make ceramics and I never worked in clay before.

And that's kind of how it began. In terms of the second and third sites that we chose, I also had Kathleen Collins in my mind because I've been very interested in artists that came up in Jersey City. She was a filmmaker, first African American female filmmaker to make a feature film. Although I heard it's debatable. But anywho, pioneer in any sense, and Duquann always wanted to do something with the African Burial Ground. And then he shared, I think it's Hidden Footsteps by Glen Cunningham. He shared that recording with me.

So I watched and selected a few that I felt very connected to and then discussed with Duquann which ones, and we wanted to do Frederick Douglas Film Company. So it was kind of like a selection of sites that we heard of. And then upon doing further research, it felt right to us in the beginning.

And then now, we just installed Betty Shabazz's plaque at NJCU and I wanted to do 111 First Street because I am still very much interested in how the artists were impacted by Jersey City as a city and how Jersey City itself was impacted by artists.

And I think Okwui Enwezor who was an art curator who had passed away not that long ago. He was just an internationally, such a well-known curator that I admired when he was living. He went to NJCU and I want to highlight that. And Charles Gaines, also an alum of NJCU. He is just like the conceptual artist right now in 2025 that we don't talk about enough in our area. So I think that my interests in contemporary art and those kinds of topics, I felt like it wasn't quite, you know, the goals have shifted for me, so, yeah, Duquann and I decided that I was gonna carry on this project.

Nat Kalbach: I wanted to ask you. It's an interesting medium you make these handmade ceramic plaques. What made you choose, like, did you choose that on purpose? That something that's so fragile in a way too, would show or be the historic marker or the marker of that story?

Jin Jung: I always saw those blue plaques as a temporary solution. I thought that it wasn't my job to place a permanent marker, that I am an artist and I am not a city official or someone with more means to maintain something. Currently, I have to go around town, like with all the tools in my hands and make sure things are still tied up.

And I have to redo the zip ties, redo the wires, like every now and then. And as I do it more and more, I know for sure that that is not my job. It shouldn't, it shouldn't be one person's job to maintain something like this. It is unsustainable. I always thought that I was providing like just a spark or something that says maybe it's like, oh, don't forget, don't forget to put up a sign here when you have the time. Please, next time when you go around, like, don't forget this is here. Like that kind of thing.

And I chose it because I thought people would care more when there was someone's hand on it. Like you could see that someone made it, that people wouldn't just ignore it or trash it right away. They will think twice before taking it down maybe. And in my defense, I did think that it was durable enough - stoneware. It's durable to weather seasons and I thought if it breaks naturally through weather and time, that it was probably time for someone else.

Nat Kalbach: There's something beautiful about it though. I was just thinking when you said that you were hoping that people would care more about it because they would see the hand in it. And I think that's an interesting point. Like, it's almost like a mirror of our society in the city, right?

Like how do we care about the important stories or the important buildings or important places where people have done something very altering to the community that if we don't honor that, like what does that say about us? Right? So if we don't honor a handmade, beautiful ceramic marker, what does that say about us? Is that a reflection?

So what was the community reaction? Were people like stopping and asking, or did you have people that said, I'm gonna take care of it, or what were some of the reactions that you noticed?

Jin Jung: Yeah. I had mostly very positive interactions. Sometimes I would get rejected by the property owners or something like that, because these signs are either on street posts or some of them are on private fences. There are different ways that we went about requesting permits.

For street posts, we just put them up without anything. But I did notice while we're putting them up, especially if I had to put them up several times, people talk to me a little bit more because they probably saw me do it the first time.

My experience is that people are very interested in knowing what happened where we live, especially when we were putting up signs around Bergen, Lafayette, on Pacific Avenue when someone took down the African Burial Ground sign and I had to put it back up, I think I was pregnant and putting it up, and someone who worked at the bodega came out and like helped me. It was so sweet. And he told me he'll look out for it this time. He was like, I'm sorry that first one got taken down. I don't know where it is, but I'll take care of this one.

Sometimes we get like, please do not do anything here. I don't want anything here. Do not come back, type of thing. It was the case with Navroze Modi sign that we wanted to put up. Modi was a person who lived in the Heights. He had moved to the heights not long before he was killed. He took on a job in Manhattan, so he moved here and he was unfortunately assaulted by, I don't even wanna say a gang 'cause I feel like it's giving them too much credit. A group of kids who had hatred towards Indian ancestry and I don't know exactly like every single detail why they did what they did, but supposedly there was some animosity towards the growing Indian immigrant population in Jersey City around that time. And he was unfortunately just like in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed.

And so I wanted to commemorate his life. So I talked to his nephew, and his nephew spoke to his mom, who was the sister and got permission from the family, but I could not get the permission from the property owner. It was such a shame. So Duquann and I just went there with a long stick and we just stood there with the sign up on the long stick. And we do get a lot of people just stopping and reading. And no one actually talked to us about it, but we were doing something strange and everyone looked.

So for like that hour that we were there, we made it a little bit of a scene. That was the best thing we could do. We only could bring attention for one hour that day. It felt like such a failure that I promised that I was going to...

It took them long time to give me permission. It was a difficult thing for them to talk about. And then I finally got the okay from the family, but I couldn't put it up, as I told them I wanted to, and it was a sad thing to have to tell them. But they were very gracious and they did not, they were not mad at me. But I felt really sad about that.

Nat Kalbach: Yeah, in a way, you're giving those stories a shelter, I think it's important what you do, and I can see how that feels. Probably sometimes very lonely in the effort, having people not react to it or not seeing it.

But I do think that a lot of people are actually aware once they know about the project and I see what you do. I saw that you just put up the sign at the university of Betty X,

Jin Jung: Shabazz. Yeah.

Nat Kalbach: Malcolm X's widow who studied then after he was killed, at

Jin Jung: NJCU.

Nat Kalbach: Right. So, so, I didn't know that. You know, like I knew about Malcolm X, but of course the story when he was assassinated doesn't end there. Like there's someone left behind and that, like, just thinking about that - you wrote that so poignantly, how you being in the situation as giving birth just to a living person. How must she have felt like, someone having lost her partner that is, like that empathy. And I think that is that you conveyed that so much that like, I'm not a mother, but I was like, wow, yeah.

Even thinking about it and you know, it made me look more into the story so, I think there, it sounds trite sometimes to say that, but if you touch only one person and have them think about it, that's actually great. You know what I mean? And there's definitely more people than one person out there that see these stories. And I know that you actually were at the university and students were with you installing that plaque which is so amazing and must have been such a great moment. And you said that they were very into it.

So I think there's always these like really bugging down moments that we have when you're an activist, or something that you do that you care so much for. That things that we think are losses, that they are, they weigh more. But there's also a way to look at it and say, reached some people and all, and those and the family, Modi's family was able to tell the story even though that might have been really, really hard to tell the story, but someone was actually interested in hearing the story and took care. So I wouldn't see it all as a "I couldn't put that sign up longer than an hour." I think that you probably touched more than you can even imagine.

Speaking of that, I know we're like, I could ask you a hundred more questions, but I would love to go back for a minute to Jersey City doing this project with WERE HERE and also living here and knowing the city more and more. Has your relationship with the city changed over time? And how do you see the city changing and does this affect your own art practice?

Jin Jung: I think that every city changes, every place changes, and so that I don't necessarily see the process of changing as a negative thing, I think it's just part of life. My relationship to this changing city probably has changed, because I think I understand a little bit better why we are the way we are. And many things were given to us.

And you know how when you think about your parents and things like that and everyone says, I don't wanna be like my parents. Then like you end up being just like your parents. It's like it's not in, you can't change it. No matter how much you try, you can't change it. I feel a little bit like that about us as people here, even though we want to have nothing to do with the history of what happened here because a lot of things happened here.

We have no choice but to be part of that. It's inevitable that we live with what was here. And sometimes it's like coping with difficulties, but sometimes I think it's like living with all the grand things that happened here. There are many of both kinds. I think that before, especially before pandemic, I used to think that I was very different from the rest of the city. That I probably don't fit in because of this. I would give a million reasons in my mind, and I am so different from everyone else and this and that, but I know now that I am just like everyone else and we are all just like each other no matter what.

Especially because we all live here and we, you know, some, some of us choose to live here. Not everyone, but those of us, especially if you chose to live here, I think you have to learn by choice, like who you want to be because you're, by choosing to live here, you're saying you wanna be here, you wanna be this, you want to be part of the fabric. So I know now that, because I chose this that I have the responsibility to learn.

Nat Kalbach: That's beautiful. I wanna ask you the last question, which is like a kind of my signature question is like, if you could spend an afternoon with anyone from Jersey City's past, it doesn't even have to be past, could be also now, but whatever, let's say past, who would it be? Which corner would you choose as your meeting spot, and what one question would you ask them?

Jin Jung: Yeah. I try to do research on this. I swear I heard some time ago that there was a couple that was laid next to each other in Bayview Cemetery because the wife died of some kind of illness. And the husband was so sad. He was there at the tombstone like all the time. And then he died of a heartache and he's laid next to there.

And I wanted to do research to figure out if this is true, but I couldn't find any information because I like needed it to be real in order to say, this is the person I want to talk to. But, since I couldn't find any information on this person, there was this story that I read and I also only read it here on the NJCU Lib guides.com.

I'm sure you've been there. So when you look up van Vorst as in Van Vorst Park. We all know that he owned slaves and he was a very rich person. But at the end of his description it says: "like other farmers, Van Vorst owned black slaves to care for his property. One of his slaves, quote, Half Indian Jack unquote, was reportedly a British spy during the Revolutionary War. He died at 102 years of age and is buried at the rear lot of number 153 on Wayne Street."

Okay, so I read this really long time ago and I wasn't sure if I remembered it right, so I had to go back. First of all, 102 in like 1700. And was his name Half Indian Jack because he was half indigenous and half black person? I don't know. So many fascinating details about this person in this little couple lines we see here.

So I would love to speak to him at the steps of the post office on Montgomery Street. So as you probably know, we were the last stop in the slave trade and we were the south of the north or something like that, right? So New Jersey still had slaves even though in New York it was abolished. And so many people who were freeing the South would make their last stop in Jersey City. And so Jersey City sort of had these safe houses that the escaped slaves would take their little pause before they head off to the other side on Hudson River.

I wonder if Half Indian Jack knew of people who are escaping from the south to New York. And what does it feel like to be a slave in Jersey City? The last stop knowing that freedom could be on the other side, and why, what happened? Like how did he become the British spy? That's so interesting. I understand that many slaves were promised a better future. And what did he see in his future? Especially because he lives till he was 102.

So the Washington Street and Montgomery Street, the intersection was like where supposedly many fleeing slaves will do some work to exchange for their trip across. So they might help like a vessel unload or something like that, and they can get a ride to New York or something like that. I don't know how accurate this is, but I have read that before. I just wonder what it feels like to, like, know the taste of not being a slave, but being a slave. But maybe I'm assuming that he would know. Maybe he doesn't know. I don't know. But if he knew it must be such a conflicting emotional experience.

Nat Kalbach: Yeah, you're right there. You're almost there.

Jin Jung: Yeah.

Nat Kalbach: Hmm. That's an interesting, that's a very interesting question. And I did not hear about - so that is an research project, I would say.

Jin Jung: Yeah. Maybe, maybe we'll do a collab.

Nat Kalbach: I would love to do that if you want, want to. Yeah,

Jin Jung: I would love that. Yeah. We need to get to the bottom of it.

Nat Kalbach: Yes, absolutely. We will do that. Thank you so much, Jin, that was amazing. Thank you for sharing your insights, your life, your thoughts, and I can't wait to see you soon and I will share more in the show notes about you, your artwork. And WERE HERE and our project. So, thank you.

Jin Jung: I just wanted to tell you something. One thing I also say, we are here. But it was supposed to be like both we're, we are here and Were here. So it, I know I say it one way and everyone says it, we are here, but it's both correct to say we are here and were here because I wanted to connect that the present in the past. It is purposely confusing. And, yeah. So thank you for having me with that. Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoyed speaking with you and thank you for doing so much research, around me as a person and about WERE HERE and everything else.

Nat Kalbach: Of course, I hope more people will check it out and if you see a ceramic sign that will tell you something about a person or a place that you pass in Jersey City, maybe stop. And if it's very close by to your home, maybe adopt it and take care of it. That would be amazing.

Jin Jung: A little adoption service we should have here. Thank you so much.

Nat Kalbach: Thank you Jin, for sharing your insights and stories with us today.

I really hope that all of you listening will keep an eye out for those beautiful blue ceramic markers as you walk around Jersey City. What strikes me most about Jin's WERE HERE project is how it invites us to see our city differently, to recognize the layers of history beneath our feet, and the stories that have shaped the places we call home.

Whether it's honoring Dr. Betty Shabazz at NJCU or marking the site of the African Burial Ground, these markers create moments of connection with our shared past. I love Jin's reflection that by choosing to live here, you're saying you want to be part of the fabric.

This speaks to the heart of what Nat's Sidewalk Stories is all about. Exploring how we build meaningful relationships with the places we inhabit. If you'd like to see some images of Jin's work and learn more about the WERE HERE Project, please visit my Substack, where I'll share a photo essay and more details about the markers we discussed today.

You'll also find a link to the WERE HERE website with their map of marker locations throughout the city. And of course information about Jin's art website and Instagram. So just check out those show notes. They have some real cool stuff in them as well.

Until next time, please look up, look around, and remember to pause occasionally on your daily walks. You never know what stories you might discover when you take the time to notice.

Thank you for listening to Nat's Sidewalk Stories. Our theme music is How You Amaze Me, composed by Jim Kalbach and performed by Jim Kalbach, Bryan Beninghove, Charlie Siegler, and Pat Van Dyke

Nathalie Kalbach
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