Students and alumni whose art was featured in “(dis)Connect Art Show” participated in a discussion at the Acworth Library on Saturday, Feb. 18.
The art show was curated by senior art major Donte Hayes and featured the art of student Cara Young and alumni Kelly Wilkinson and Ashlyn Pope. The show was intended to feature art inspired by the African diaspora. At the event, Pope, Wilkinson and Young discussed sources of their inspiration as well as their experiences as female black artists.
“These four artists authentically address their own personal battles to illuminate the humanity in all people,” Hayes wrote in his curatorial statement. “This exhibition’s goal is to seek to understand the struggles of others while also finding connections that cross all humanity.”
During the artist talk, Pope emphasized the importance of sharing her story as a young black woman.
“It’s hard for people to accept that [black people] have a voice,” she said. “Just because I get empowered doesn’t mean I’m taking anything from anyone else.”
Pope graduated from KSU in fall 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in ceramics and printmaking. She remarked that her time at KSU helped transform her into who she is as an artist.
“The support doesn’t come from the school,” she said. “It comes from the professors.”
Her pieces in “(dis)Connect Art Show” were influenced by African American quilts, on which she printed pictures.
“Pope’s prints on quilts speak to domestic violence toward girls and women and how these issues affect the family dynamics,” Hayes wrote in his curatorial statement.
He also wrote that Young uses her art to connect with others through pieces that provoke thought about the way people interact on a social and psychological level.
“Young explores issues of personal doubt and the complication in knowing your true thoughts and feelings,” the statement read.
Wilkinson’s series, entitled “Can’t Hear You Over My Afro,” was created in order to encourage black women with natural hair to take pride in their roots.
Hayes wrote that Wilkinson’s collection “takes on the subject of pop culture on the standards of what defines beauty in a western society.”
The art show is no longer on display, but Wilkinson, Pope and Young‘s work can be found on each of their respective websites.