Outdoor-mulitmedia art exhibit “Black Lives in Focus” to be displayed at Pitt-Greensburg
The University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg will host a traveling outdoor-multimedia art exhibit entitled “Black Lives in Focus.” The artwork will be displayed from Monday, March 28, through Friday, April 1, along the walkway outside of Chambers Hall.
The exhibit is intended to inspire participants to reflect on the value of Black lives and the voices of people of color in the Pitt community. Twenty-one panels of art and 10 panels of text are part of the display that showcases the work of 17 artists that range from young, emerging creators to long-established Black artists. The artwork features a variety of styles, including ceramics, video, painting, drawing, quilt making, and text contributions from community members.
Award-winning local artist Pamela Cooper has two pieces included in the exhibit. Her 2019 photograph, “At Peace,” features “a young boy at peace and sleeping with his hands narrating a sermon of his own.” A second piece entitled, “I Just Wanna Live” (2021) is a pen, ink, and watercolor creation that is a blind contour line portrait of the singer Keedron Bryant. Bryant’s song of the same title resonated with Cooper, providing the inspiration for the composition.
The exhibit has spent the past year being displayed at the different campuses in the University of Pittsburgh system, and is sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, with support from the Center for Creativity.