Tuesday Nov. 10 Smith College held its annual Cromwell Day, and though this year’s symposium took place virtually, it was still an impactful opportunity to come together, reflect and learn. This year’s celebration, entitled “Tackling Anti-Blackness: Moving Past the Abstract,” featured speakers, workshops and student art pieces. It concluded with a showcasing of student artwork that grappled with the harrowing history of racism in the United States as well as devastating current events such as the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor which have sparked civil unrest across the nation.
Over the course of the last several months we have seen artists of all ages and backgrounds take up the call to action and respond to these tragedies through paint, photography and song. These creative works express what is inexpressible in words and enable us to understand one another more empathetically.
Smith’s art showcase depicted students joining in song, singing of a future dream in which all people live together in peace. Yet their hope-filled voices were followed by artworks that wrestled with the deeply rooted racial tensions that continue to persist. Students read poems dedicated to Breonna Taylor and shared photos of artworks they had made inspired by the Black Lives Matter protests. The video ended with a final song that was a call to action, a reminder that the movement is not over, that we must keep protesting for racial equality until there is true justice for all.
At UMass Amherst they had a similar gathering of art works focused on racial justice. The program, “Breathing While Black” was created in collaboration with their W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies in September. Finding a creative way to display the artwork in the midst of the pandemic, UMass created a virtual exhibition of 135 pieces featuring 50 artists from 17 different countries. Some of the artists are well known across the world, some are students from the Pioneer Valley; all of the works are deeply impactful. Illustrations of Black subjects are depicted in a variety of styles through various mediums. Some of the pieces are videos, some are candid photographs depicting signs held up during the Black Lives Matter movement. Each of the works urge viewers to reflect upon the history of racism in the United States — how it is perpetuated in our contemporary communities, and how we might move forward together.
Since the vicious killing of George Floyd in May, protests calling for racial justice have erupted all over the country. People have been moved to action in a multitude of ways — marching through streets, advocating for legislative change, creating profound works of art. As the protests travel through downtown and main streets across the country, businesses have boarded up their windows. No matter what city, these boards — which serve to protect capitalist enterprises — have been transformed into blank canvases for outraged artistic expression. From Minneapolis, to Washington DC, to Atlanta, to Seattle, these plywood boards have been painted with the outcry for justice. Many of them simply state “BLACK LIVES MATTER” while others are ornately covered with graffiti and brushes and posters. Whether it is text or portraits, these images capture the turmoil our country is currently experiencing, as well as the pent up frustration from generations of historical wrongdoing. If you want to see what a city is thinking, read what they have written on the walls.
We are witnessing the defining civil rights movement of our generation, in the same instance that a pandemic is sweeping devastating blows across the nation. All the while thousands of individuals are without work, wondering if they will be evicted, unsure of how to shift into a socially distanced digital realm. Why do paintings on plywood boards or poems read by students matter? It is easy to see these modes of expression as insignificant, yet all of these art forms are crucial to this unprecedented historical moment. When the protesters have dispersed, the walls are still covered in paint. When the students have graduated, their poems will still be able to tell the story of this time. It is crucial that we truly listen when those around us speak — be it words or paint splatters or musical notes, their voices ring out with calls for change.
If you would like to revisit the Cromwell Art Showcase or check out the UMass Amherst virtual exhibition, visit the links below.
