These are the artists being featured at the 2023 LUMA Festival

Six colorful projection mapping displays will once again light up Binghamton’s night skies through the return of LUMA, with one taking a whole new meaning as it’s dedicated to a local activist and arts organizer who died earlier this year.

A mural mapping display, which takes drawings from local artists and projects them onto a downtown building during the festival, has been renamed the Peg Johnston Living Lights Project after the Southern Tier Women’s Services executive director and Cooperative Gallery 213 artist, who died in May.

“Peg Johnston was an amazing activist, artist, community organizer, just a warm, loving soul,” LUMA co-founder Joshua Bernard said Thursday. “We’re incredibly proud to rename the mural mapping project in honor of Peg Johnston.”

When is LUMA

The Peg Johnston Living Lights Project will be projected onto 196 State St. along with five other displays scattered throughout downtown Binghamton Sept. 8-9.

Here are the five other visual storytelling performances and artists who will be featured at this year’s LUMA festival, where you’ll find them and why organizers say you won’t want to miss them.

Second Nature

• Artist: Yann Nguema
• Where: 49 Court St.
• What you will see: “Second Nature” is a visionary blend of architecture and algorithm, masterfully crafted by French artist Yann Nguema. This visual poem transforms the traditional facade of 49 Court St. into an entrancing ballet of light, where historical grandeur and modern innovation exist in striking harmony. Using precision light and laser work, Nguema marries the past and the future, crafting a new perspective on the art of mapping that delivers a compelling narrative.

Light Session

• Artist: Los Romeras
• Where: 65 Hawley St.
• What you will see: Imagine the soulful beats of jazz represented visually in a dazzling array of colors and shapes. “Light Session” by Romera from Madrid, Spain seamlessly integrates music and architecture, the play of light painting a narrative of jazz on the building. An…