The fourth annual “Black Souls Welcome” introduced a new set of visual and performing artists for this year’s showcase to celebrate Black History Month.
The installation kicked off with an opening reception on Tuesday, Feb. 4, on the fifth floor of the Student Center with more than 160 registered attendees.
The reception gave the stage to 10 student performers who showcased their art, including poetry, rap, song and dance.
Yemima Kebede, a senior creative writing major with a concentration in poetry, was the first to perform at the showcase with her piece titled “Have you answered yet?”
“I’m a Christian, so I write a lot about my Christian faith,” Kebede said. “With this poem, it’s God having a conversation with you, and how he always calls out to people, but we tend to ignore him, whether we don’t believe in him, or we choose to scroll on social media or do anything else instead of talking to him, and that hurts his heart.”
Kebede said that she appreciates what the college does to emphasize diversity through events like “Black Souls Welcome.”
“Students, especially students of color, African American students, see that it is possible for us to showcase our creativity. It is possible for us to be in front of a microphone, to be on a stage,” she said.
The Renegades hip-hop dance team also performed during the showcase. Ky Bedford, the team’s captain, said their choreography focused on incorporating different ways of showcasing hip-hop. Co-captain Nailah Brown added that they are trying to showcase “different aspects of black culture.”
Brown said that it is very rare to see a lot of Black art being showcased in a predominantly white institution, and that makes events like this important to her.
“I think it’s just amazing to show the different aspects of our culture,” said Brown, a junior dance major.
Bedford, a junior dance major, said she hadn’t “seen this many Black people in one space in a very long time.”
“It’s beautiful to see everybody, the different skin tones, different shades, the different art, the different majors, getting to know people. It’s a beautiful event,” she added.
Up for nearly three weeks, the installation also featured 11 visual artists whose works include photographs, drawings, paintings, digital art and sculptures.
“My art, a lot of it, is just about slowing down and seeing color,” said senior fine arts major Mecca Winston. “I take a lot of color and interpret that, just to kind of get people to slow down and see things visually.”
Winston said she’s been participating in the event since coming to Columbia, but this year is more special for her because it’s her last year.
“I feel like all around the year, it’s super important to highlight your work, of course, but during Black History Month and any month that represents your culture, it’s so important to participate because that is a part of you, and you could represent a different dynamic that someone else is too afraid to put out,” Winston said. “You could be the first of many to lead on a different path.”
BSW was originally started by alum Angel Smigielski in 2021 with only four artists featured. They believed there weren’t many places on campus for Black artists to show their work and wanted to build more of a community among black creatives.
Student Diversity & Inclusion Director Charee Mosby-Holloway said the office took one year off, but it has become an annual event since then.
“We’ve been able to add the reception, to add performances, so all different kinds of artists get to perform and share their talents,” Mosby-Holloway said. “It’s not necessarily that things are new, but we’ve been able to take advantage of the foundation that we’ve laid. We have a great relationship with Bob Blandford and his class, who has helped us really elevate the curation of our visual artists.”
Mosby-Holloway also added that SDI wanted to be able to provide nourishment to elevate everyone’s experience, especially the artists’, but budget was their biggest challenge.
“It’s a hard time,” she said. “Diversity, equity, and inclusion work is difficult at the moment, but for me, this kind of event centers on why we do this work, why it’s important and who we do it for.”
Anakaren Pinto, SDI coordinator of events and education, said they were able to be more intentional this year despite having to push the event earlier due to space availability.
“Even with that, this wasn’t our first rodeo, so we were still able to focus a bit more on details,” she said. “I always try to make sure that the students feel valued, and so I try to give the best quality of an event as we can with our limited budget. One of the things we did was splurge a little to support Ben and Jerry since they were very big advocates of DEI.”
Pinto added that she loved the idea of showcasing the creatives at Columbia, but she wanted to make sure it would be meaningful even with a limited budget.
“It’s an honor to be able to produce these types of events,” Pinto said. “I definitely believe in inclusivity, and I love our differences, and it’s a beauty to be able to celebrate that.”
Senior music business major Jemil Hunter, who attended the reception, said it is important for the college to continue events like this because they are not often offered elsewhere.
“There’s not a lot of opportunities where there’s an event set up for people with your background and culture, where you guys can just meet, express yourselves like, really show who you are and not compare yourself to people, but build a relationship with a group of people,” he said. “I like to observe and see people from different backgrounds and how they express themselves creatively.”
The art exhibition is available for viewing through Feb. 21. on the fifth floor of the Student Center.
Copy edited by Matt Brady
