New Yorkers say that gentrification builds up or tears down neighborhoods, and a museum in a gentrifying area of Brooklyn is now hosting an exhibit on that topic. Borough reporter Jeanine Ramirez filed the following report.

Artist Tim Okamura proudly paints Bushwick, which is his new neighborhood after he was displaced from now-trendy Williamsburg.

"I was looking for cheap space essentially and once the area got built up, we got sort of priced out, so I ended up moving to Bushwick," says artist Tim Okamura.

The phenomenon of the changing face of neighborhoods is the subject of a new exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Fort Greene, called "The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks."

"It's the pink elephant in the room. People don't want to talk about it, they feel uncomfortable discussing this topic in mixed company," said MoCADA Director Laurie Cumbo. "And we really want to shake it up."

Everybody was talking about gentrification at the exhibition's packed opening Thursday night. The exhibit features 20 Brooklyn artists of different backgrounds who use different mediums to have their work featured. There are video installations, cartoon collections and photographs.

One painting showing a girl holding white picket fence slates begs the question about whether she is taking down or putting up the fence.

"My piece is loosely based on the Robert Frost's poem 'Mending Wall,' which discusses the idea of good neighbors and setting up boundaries and what boundaries represent," says artist Alexandria Smith.

Another sculpture shows colorful beads becoming homogenized and white, symbolizing the gentrification process taking hold.

There is also a stack of paper fortune tellers that try to explain gentrification. Artist Rosamond King says it is not as simple as the black-and-white of her printed paper palette.

"It's not always an us-and-them issue. Sometimes we're part of the changes for better and for worse ourselves, and not just other people," says artist Rosamond King.

Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries says the topic is timely, as he sees gentrification happening at a rapid pace in his district, which including the museum's location of Fort Greene.

"The twin evils of gentrification and displacement really present the greatest challenge to maintaining the diversity of our community, our racial diversity, socio-economic, cultural diversity, all that makes Brooklyn strong," says Jeffries.

The exhibit's mission is to open the dialogue as communities continue to evolve.

"The Gentrification Of Brooklyn" exhibition runs through May 16.