A Black Lives Matter Social Justice art show opened at University of the Fraser Valley on June 14 and runs until Sept. 15.
The free event is a collaboration of UFV faculty, staff and students in conjunction with CityStudio Abbotsford.
The exhibit takes place at the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery (room B136) at the Abbotsford UFV campus.
The goal of the project to to bring the community together to learn about social justice through art and to consider our role in responding to white supremacy and racial injustice both globally and locally.
The work of four artists is featured in the show: Michelle Msami, Dona Park, Rain Neeposh and Faria Firoz.
Msami is a UFV student and Abbotsford-based artist who was born and raised in Botswana, Africa. Using acrylic paint, she incorporates collage and layers of oil paint, glitter and graphite.
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Park is an artist and graphic designer living in Abbotsford. Born in South Korea, she grew up living between and the U.S. and working internationally. She pulls artistic inspiration from personal and cross-cultural experience, particularly from interactions with nature and women from all over the world.
Neeposh is a Cree artist who was raised as a member of the Williams Lake First Nation surrounded by wild animals and boreal forest. He comes from a family of Indigenous artisans, and the bead-working he learned from his grandmother is how he celebrates and continues that legacy.
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Firoz was born in Bangladesh and is a UFV student. She is a contemporary realist painter whose art practice deals with culture and identity. Her painting Hurricane is published in the Hebrew Learning for 8th Graders.
The Black Lives Matter Social Justice Art Project arose from a CityAbbotsford program called Hubbub.
When students from a geography class came up with the idea of creating a series of murals throughout Abbotsford in support of the BLM movement, CityStudio go on board, and the project was born.
An advisory board for the project put out a call for artists from black, Indigenous and people of colour communities. The selected artists were mentored in their work by Black Vancouver-based music artist Desiree Dawson and UFV visual arts professor Shelley Stefan.
Visit abbotsfordblm.ca for more information or to view the online gallery.
The Black Lives Matter Social Justice Art Project exhibit is now open at University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. The show runs until Sept. 15. (UFV photo)
