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After two years of virtual celebrations, this past Sunday, May 22, the School of Visual Arts held its first in-person commencement ceremony since 2019. SVA President David Rhodes conferred bachelor’s and master’s degrees on some 1,130 newly minted alumni; 2022 graduates of the College’s BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects and MFA Illustration as Visual Essay programs delivered addresses; and renowned and best-selling writer Roxane Gay gave a poignant keynote speech.

SVA Provost Dr. Christopher Cyphers, who acted as the director of ceremonies, set the afternoon in motion by introducing the event’s bachelor’s degree-candidate speaker, Nelson Mai (BFA 2022 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects), and master’s degree-candidate speaker, Bernardo Rodriguez (MFA 2022 Illustration as Visual Essay).

Mai began by touching on how his experience as a child of Chinese immigrant parents has shaped him and established an appreciation for family within him. This appreciation carried over to the found family he forged at the College. “SVA became the foundation for a new family—one we chose ourselves, and like my parents, we created new memories and new rituals. . . . We become each other’s support systems when home is so far for many.” As a co-founder of the Asian American Student Union at SVA, he reflected on the community’s response to gun violence, police brutality and anti-Asian hate as the ethnic clubs at SVA came together to create the Multicultural Student Union, and thanked the student organizations, SVA DEI Director Jarvis Watson and everyone who played a role in creating a safer space for students and faculty of color on campus. 

Rodriguez, who moved to New York from the Dominican Republic at the age of 7, highlighted art-making’s role in his own communication with the world around him. “For as long as I can remember,” he said, “drawing has been the universal language I have used to connect with the world. . . . The arts were a bridge that allowed me to communicate with others without English.” He spoke about the instinctual nature of artistic expression and how each artist has a unique language. “All of our individual experiences have led us down similar yet distinct paths . . . each a work of art that bares our soul and speaks our heart.” Touching on the hardships all students have faced during their time at SVA, he ended with a Dominican aphorism: “With patience and calm; even a donkey can climb a palm tree,” interpreting it to mean, “Your best work is still in front of you, and with patience and dedication, your creations will emerge from the fog.”

President Rhodes opened his time at the podium by quoting the late Milton Glaser, the legendary designer, longtime faculty member and former acting chairman of the SVA Board. The purpose of art, he said, is “to inform and delight.” Rhodes proposed two questions: “What should the artist inform the audience about? And how should the artist delight the audience?” He answered by looking at present-day conflicts and how art may act to address it. “Reasoning alone is not powerful enough to bridge others, nor does it persuade us to overcome differences,” he said. “I believe there is reason to hope the arts can bridge these divisions. The hope resides in the art’s ability to engender empathy and compassion.” He continued, “Darrien Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, has remarked [that] ‘without empathy, there is not justice.’ If that is true, then the creation of art that you have all committed yourselves to is a deeply ethical undertaking.” 

Roxane Gay, the event’s keynote speaker and recipient of an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree, began her remarks by commending the students for their achievements, while noting that her address would deliver more than just congratulations. “Normally, with a commencement speech, you give some sort of uplifting and inspirational advice, and I think that’s important. But I think there is also a lot going on in the world.” Gay told of an installation she recently saw at the Frieze art fair, titled Trigger Planting, featuring a large map of the U.S. over which was planted a garden of plants that can induce an abortion. 

“The plants are strategically placed across 26 states,” she said. “And when you look, you realize just how many people in this country are on the verge of losing one of their most essential human rights.” Stressing the importance of fighting for those who are marginalized, she continued: “These artists see what’s coming, they see what’s happening, and they are responding with power.”

“Today, we are holding a commencement,” she said. “And you may wonder what the politics of abortion has to do with this significant moment in your lives. What I’m trying to talk to you about is the importance of seeing. Lately, when I go online to read the news or browse social media, I feel like we are teetering on the verge of dystopia. This kind of nightmarish future that we tend to see in science-fiction novels and bad movies. Only the state of the world is not fiction. The confluence of crises that we are facing is very real.”

As she urged the class of 2022 to recognize the importance of observing what is happening in the world around them with a critical eye, she also acknowledged that there is still much joy to be found. “I said I was trying to talk to you about the importance of seeing. And part of that importance is seeing the whole of the world, the painful realities as well as the beautiful ones. . . . The best parts of life are so inexpressibly glorious.”

Gay then told another story from her visit to Frieze, about two men posing together in a provocative photo shoot amid a startling and erotic installation. “It was a charming reminder that there is so much worth seeing if your eyes are open, if you are willing to look and if you are willing to be open to everything that you see.”

“I see how things do seem to be falling apart and how people find ways to thrive, nonetheless. You are artists. Your art is grounded in how you see the world and how you express that seeing in your creative work. And we need your work. We need your articulations of how you understand the world now more than ever.”

Gay ended with a proposition to the graduating class. “As you move forward into the next stage of your life, I want you to see clearly, both the challenges we’re facing and the potential of an unknown future,” she said. “Nurture your powerful imaginations, and believe that this world can become the better place that so many of us yearn for.

“Our future is not known; it is yours to create.”

For more about the 2022 SVA Commencement, including a video of the full ceremony and information on how graduates can get their diplomas, visit sva.edu/commencement.

Congratulations to the SVA Class of 2022!