A statement from the curators reads:

“Politics, daily life and art often constrain Black people to the position of a statistic, a monolith, a symbol of something greater than we asked to be. This crushing weight does not give us, as Black artists, the opportunity or the room to be individuals. With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and heightened political tension, we feel a binding obligation to create work reflective of present times. We often cannot express ourselves fully because our pain often links us to a deep, dark and violent history. It’s rarely ever personal; it is instead inherited, having everything and nothing to do with us as individuals. However, we must break this prevalent mindset, shifting the responsibility of addressing these social issues to society itself. Until then, many creative freedoms and forms of individuality, free of tension, are unavailable to Black artists. So, in this exhibition, we declare and demand that our individuality be seen, considered and valued. The exhibited work contains trauma and struggle, yes, but also joy, relatability, culture and vitality. We want you to see us through this diverse collection of work from Black SVA students. All we can do is be ourselves and exist. That should be enough. It is enough.

Exhibiting our art during Black History Month emphasizes how essential it is to celebrate ourselves through our achievements and our means of expression, how we see fit. Blackness is anything but a monolith, so our assertion of individualism is our form of radical activism to push our community forward and up.”

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