On the first floor of Schoonover Center lives the School of Visual Communications gallery. Throughout the year, the VisCom school hosts themed exhibitions showcasing the work of students and alums. These include photographs, multimedia design and other visual works of art.
During February, the gallery is hosting “The Black Exhibit,” which displays 50 works of art from black students, alums and faculty. The exhibit opened Feb. 1.
Gary Kirksey, a professor at the VisCom school, said the work on display has gone far and wide in its impact on the world and the community.
“It showcases all the talent and the outcome of the African diaspora that we've educated over the years that I've been here,” he said. “There's Pulitzer Prize winners down there.”
Every piece of art that is being shown tells a story; some have a deep history.
“I want to showcase the talent and the breadth of every one of these people,” Kirksey said. “One of the images in there is from ‘Songs of My People.’ It was a project where it was the first time half-Americans documented America themselves. At the time that they proposed the project and book, they got turned down from … probably five or more publishing companies because they said there weren't 50 Black photographers out there, which was completely incorrect.”
The VisCom school hosted a reception on the afternoon of Feb. 10, bringing in the students and alums featured in the exhibit.
Johnny Crawford, who is featured in the gallery, graduated from Morehouse College in 1985 but received his master's degree in photojournalism from Ohio University in 2014. He is currently working on a project to document Black Vietnam War soldiers. His goal is to “document the human spirit.”
Crawford said the true person within everyone is consistently covered, and those masks have to be peeled away.
“When I shoot a portrait of a Vietnam veteran, I just don't just shoot photographs,” he said. “I try to find out something about them. Because once you find out something about them, and they notice you care, then you meet the real person.”
To Crawford, each photograph he takes has a special individual meaning.
“Every picture is important,” he said. “Every picture is important to somebody. And I think as a photographer, or just like I tell young writers, whoever you're sitting in front of, that's the most important person you'll ever meet at that particular time.”
It is not just the work of alums that is on display, but also the work of current students. Prince Amoa-Mensa, a graduate student studying commercial photography, said his photography is to show his vision of the world.
“I wanted to tell people, show people how I see things,” he said.
Starting his photography career in Ghana, he was inspired by people close to him in high school, eventually leading him to come to OU to pursue his master's degree.
For Amoa-Mensa, exhibiting the art of students and alums is about letting a wider audience see them.
“This (is) important because it shows people what the students are doing,” he said. “It’s such a privilege.”
The exhibit is not just photography, but all forms of visual media, including art and design.
“I'm very proud of the exhibit and what the fellow alumni and students have put together or submitted for the show,” Kirksey said. “It really shows the vast direction and talent that VisCom alum has created, and it just showcases also the talent African Americans have contributed to our communication system.”
The Black Exhibit will run in the VisCom gallery on the first floor of the Schoonover Center through Feb. 26 and is open to the public.
Crawford’s work can be found on his website, johnnycrawfordphotography.com, Amoa-Mensa’s on his Instagram at @legendary.photography and Professor Kirkesy’s on his website, garykirksey.com.
