BU Art Galleries’ summer exhibition, Right to the City, combats the global repercussions of gentrification
Anchored by images taken by photographic ethnographer Dominic Moulden (Hon.'25), Right to the City serves as a call to action, uplifting ways to safeguard the fundamental human right to a healthy place called home
BU Art Galleries’ summer exhibition, Right to the City, combats the global repercussions of gentrification
Anchored by images taken by photographic ethnographer Dominic Moulden (Hon.’25), Right to the City serves as a call to action, uplifting ways we can all safeguard the fundamental human right to a healthy place called home
Boston University Art Galleries, in partnership with BU Initiative on Cities, proudly announces its upcoming summer exhibition, Right to the City, on view from June 9 through August 8, 2026, at BU’s Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery.
Right to the City is an international movement combating the political, cultural, and environmental repercussions of inequitable land and property (re)development. Over the last decade, advocate and photographic ethnographer Dominic Moulden (Hon.’25) has traversed shorelines, capturing the global resistance against displacement.
“We are thrilled to partner with the Initiative on Cities to showcase Dominic’s artwork,” says Lissa Cramer (MET’18), director of BU Art Galleries. “Not only is the exhibition’s theme timely and important, but Dominic’s images are also dynamic and deeply captivating. His artistic excellence is on full display. We’re delighted to share his work with the Boston community and honored to collaborate with such a star curator, Ky Vassor.”
Right to the City serves as a call to action, uplifting ways we can all safeguard the fundamental human right to a healthy place called home. As a community organizer, artist, and educator, Moulden’s deep commitment to social justice and racial equity is evident in his photography.
“The photographs featured in Right to the City reveal the sociopolitical and environmental consequences of displacement, while offering viewers insight into how communities globally are resisting inequitable development,” says Vassor. “There is a diverse range of imagery which includes depictions of civil unrest, rapidly changing landscapes, and solidarity between neighbors supporting one another. Through this body of work, Dominic Moulden offers empowering strategies for each of us to safeguard the fundamental right to a healthy home.”
The photographs featured in Right to the City reveal the sociopolitical and environmental consequences of displacement, while offering viewers insight into how communities globally are resisting inequitable development. There is a diverse range of imagery which includes depictions of civil unrest, rapidly changing landscapes, and solidarity between neighbors supporting one another. Through this body of work, Dominic Moulden offers empowering strategies for each of us to safeguard the fundamental right to a healthy home.
As a traveling exhibition, Right to the City‘s first location is at Boston University, anchored by images taken by Moulden in 2023 and hosted by urbanist and scholar-activist Loretta Lees, Director of the Initiative on Cities at BU.
“The Initiative on Cities at BU is committed to the Right to the City in its research, learning, and practice. We promote cities as democratic spaces in which all should have the right to access, shape, and benefit from urban spaces. Dominic’s work is a testament to this,” says Lees.
After the exhibition wraps up in Boston, the show will head to London, where it will be hosted in partnership with Queen Mary University of London. The display will center around images Moulden captured while touring sites with Lees and working with Dr. Joseph Hoover, Director of TheoryLAB and Reader in Political Theory at Queen Mary University of London.
This exhibit reveals the power of visual art and the story it tells about people, place, and space, and who has the Right to the City.
ABOUT BU ART GALLERIES
BU Art Galleries animates the cultural life of Boston University by exhibiting inclusive, dynamic art that encourages learning and appreciation for the visual world.
There are two primary exhibition spaces: 808 Gallery located at 808 Commonwealth Ave., and Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery (Stone Gallery), on the first floor of 855 Commonwealth Ave.
All exhibitions at BU Art Galleries are free and open to the general public.
Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 34,000 students, it is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States. BU consists of 17 schools and colleges, along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes integral to the University’s research and teaching mission. In 2012, BU joined the Association of American Universities (AAU), a consortium of 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. Learn more at bu.edu
Established in 1954, Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of artist-scholars and scholar-artists who are passionate about the fine and performing arts, committed to diversity and inclusion, and determined to improve the lives of others through art. With programs in Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts, CFA prepares students for a meaningful creative life by developing their intellectual capacity to create art, shift perspective and think broadly. CFA offers a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, as well as a range of online degrees and certificates. Learn more at bu.edu/cfa
Boston University Art Galleries serves as a resource of learning and cultural engagement for Boston University and the surrounding metro area. The galleries maintain ongoing rotating exhibitions that allow for a wide scope of art to be featured from all ranges of mediums and artists. Part of the College of Fine Arts, the Boston University Art Galleries maintains an ongoing exhibition schedule in two locations on the University’s Charles River Campus—the Faye G., Jo, and James Stone Gallery and 808 Gallery. The galleries are free and open to all. BU Art Galleries animates the cultural life of Boston University by exhibiting inclusive, dynamic art that encourages learning and appreciation for the visual world. Exhibiting or promoting a work of art does not represent Boston University’s endorsement of the ideas, opinions or views expressed by the artist. Learn more at bu.edu/art
The Initiative on Cities (IOC) at Boston University is a global urban research center founded in 2014 that serves as an interdisciplinary hub for urbanists, connecting research and practice and leading place-based experiential learning programs for students. We marshal the talents and resources of wide-ranging disciplines across the university and forge ties to cities locally, nationally, and globally – in pursuit of creating more livable and resilient cities. Learn more at bu.edu/ioc