CULTURED MAGAZINE Ivy N. Jones’s Welancora Gallery Advances the African Diaspora

Almost two decades ago, Ivy N. Jones founded Welancora Gallery in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Then and now, there is so much power in a Black gallerist showing and selling work by Black artists in a space that they own in a once predominantly Black neighborhood. The gallery is located in a cozy 19th-century townhouse that emulates Jones’s essence of elegance and grace. The building is reminiscent of the spaces where other institutions were established, including MoMA, Jack Tilton Gallery, Marlborough Gallery and the High Museum in Atlanta. In 2002, Jones made an intuitive decision to buy a brownstone. “At a young age, I always knew that I wanted to own my own space,” the Brooklyn native remembers.