CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – An exhibition of artwork, poetry and photography by local artists that celebrates black girlhood will be on display at Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois Feb. 17-27. “Reflections of Black Girlhood: Necessary Truths” will feature works created by black women and girls involved in the Saving Our Lives Hearing Our Truths outreach program and SOLHOT/Sisterhood, a collaboration between SOLHOT and Urbana Middle School.
SOLHOT is an experience for and about black girls living and learning in Central Illinois co-founded and led by Ruth Nicole Brown, a U. of I. professor of gender and women’s studies and of educational policy studies at the University of Illinois. SOLHOT provides a space for black girls to explore their experiences and what it means to be young, black and female in today’s society.
SOLHOT encourages black girls to create spaces of their own – physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually – to express who they are and desire to be through discussion, song, storytelling, dance, photography, poetry, video and other media.
A central goal of the program is to document the lived realities of black girls for the purpose of creating institutional and relational mechanisms of accountability that affirm their worth.
“SOLHOT is a space of giving ourselves the permission to dream, of documenting those dreams in text, image and sound, and sharing those dreams unapologetically with the world… nothing more, nothing less,” said Candy Taaffe, a doctoral student in educational policy studies and one of the organizers of the project.
The exhibition will feature works created over the past three years by SOLHOT participants.
The project was funded by the Community Informatics Initiative, the department of educational policy studies and the Gender and Women’s Studies Program.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition and the recent publication of Brown’s book “Black Girlhood Celebration: Toward a Hip Hop Feminist Pedagogy” (Peter Lang Publishing, 2008), a reception will be held at the art museum from 5-7 p.m. on Feb. 19. The event is free and open to the public.
Krannert Art Museum is located at 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign.
