Ray Warren art show and zine encourage conversations about race and beauty

By Emma Grillo /// Staff Writer

On Monday, Nov. 10, four Lewis & Clark students will begin the lengthy process of converting Stamm Dining Room into an art gallery. However, this is no ordinary art show. Along with the speaker series, the symposium puts on an art show, where pieces will be tackling the topics of race, beauty and desire.

Hibaq Adan (’15), Ian Blair (’15), Maya Flint (’15), and Lesedi Khabele-Stevens (’17) are the art show curators for this year’s symposium art show. After undergoing an interview process to become art curators, they issued a call for submissions. They received submissions from 13 different artists, both on and off campus, with each artist submitting anywhere from a few pieces to a complete body of work.

After meeting a few times as a group, the art curators accepted submissions from seven different artists. The art will be on display throughout the symposium for students and faculty to browse.

The show will be smaller this year, and will only use two walls in Stamm instead of the four that were used last year.

“It is going to be a smaller show, but I think it is going to be really strong one. There are some really strong pieces of work in there,” Khabele-Stevens said.

In addition to the art show, there will also be a Zine put out by Mikaela Aguilar (’15) and Ted Jamison (’15). According to Jamison, the “zine will feature poetry, prose and visual art, all from LC students, related to this year’s symposium theme.”

The zine will be printed and distributed throughout the week of the symposium for LC students and faculty to pick up at their leisure.

According to Aguilar, she and Jamison “wanted a space to share student work related to the symposium’s theme. Because the theme is a very individual and personal topic, we wanted to give people the opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences in a more tangible way.”

Jamison agreed: “Students who are not comfortable in the exposure of the Race Monologues might find an outlet in the zine.”

Not only do the artistic outlets such as the zine and the art show provide students with an opportunity to express themselves in a way that they might not otherwise had a chance to, they also help to keep the conversation going.

“Art is another way to engage with a serious topic,” said Danni Green (‘16), one of the co-chairs of the Ray Warren Symposium. “I think there needs to be a space for creative ways to talk about very serious topics and very personal topics.”

Khabele-Stevens agreed.

“Art, especially when it deals with the political and the personal and the political as the personal, it starts conversations that sometimes otherwise just talking won’t do…We can have those same conversations but from a different viewpoint, and access it differently.”

The art show will be up and open all week, and the zine will be passed around throughout the week. Be sure to check out the work of your fellow community members, and engage with the topics of race, beauty and desire in a more personal and introspective way.