The seventh annual HBCU art showcase presented by the New Orleans Chapter of The Links, Incorporated features 11 students from Xavier University of Louisiana, one of the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
The Links, Incorporated has celebrated more than 67 years as a women’s volunteer service organization committed to enriching, sustaining, and ensuring the cultural and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.
Xavier University of Louisiana is America’s only Historically Black and Catholic University. Xavier is a nationally recognized leader in the STEM and health sciences fields, producing more African American students who graduate from medical school each year than any other university in the United States. Its College of Pharmacy is also among the top producers of African American pharmacists. Xavier remains committed to its founding mission of serving the underrepresented Black population and the “the promotion of a more just and humane society.”
The 11 featured student artists are Kennedi Andrus, Allana Barefield, KaLya Ellis, Barriane Franks, Lauren Gray, Ashley A. Miller, Reid Hobson-Powell, La’Shance Perry, Makeda Wells, Bryce Williams, and Maliya Vaughan.
Barriane Franks expressed, “In my early years as an artist, I never thought to convey an everlasting message to my viewers; however, my thoughts soon changed after witnessing so much controversy and chaos through the topic of social injustice. My experiences with racial and gender prejudice and injustice have driven me to create a modern Social Injustice art series on racism and sexism.” Some of her works are titled Chronology of Agony II: Slavery, Chronology of Agony II: Lynching, and Chronology of Agony II: Brutality.
The exhibition shows fine arts and digital design galleries and highlights some of the feature artists’ statements about their art pieces.
The exhibition will be on view at the Odgen Museum of Southern Art this fall at 925 Camp Street, New Orleans, Louisiana. The Museum is open Monday through Sunday at 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. Thursday admissions are free to Louisiana residents, courtesy of The Helis Foundation. However, the showcase is visible now online.
