Digital artist Mawhyah Milton’s exhibit, “Apologetically BLK,” is currently displayed in Memorial Union’s Class of 1925 Gallery. The exhibit opened Sept. 26 and will remain open until Nov. 17.
The Wisconsin Union Directorate Art Committee, Wisconsin Union Theatre and Black Arts Matter Festival founder Shasparay Irvin will host an official gallery viewing Nov. 8. Milton’s exhibit is part of the BAM Festival, a larger event aiming to promote Black voices and art in Wisconsin, Shasparay said.
Shasparay, who is also a recent graduate of the Wisconsin School of Business Bolz Center, organized Milton’s “Apologetically BLK” exhibition. It was included in the BAM Festival to give it a strong beginning, embedding Milton’s artistic spirit and message with it.
A collection of seven pieces, the exhibition promotes Milton’s central theme which voices the struggle and culture of Black people in America. Through her art, Milton depicts social and political issues in the U.S. faced by Black people especially the issues of police brutality and state-sanctioned violence, she told WUD in a YouTube video. She also uses vibrant colors to express her community’s creativity, portraying vivd patterns and long, drawn-out tears representing struggle and suffering.
Milton uses the red poppy flower, sometimes in overflowing quantities, to demonstrate the choking nature of such a struggle against political injustice. It can be found in her piece, “Thousand Yard Stare” at the exhibition where a women is seen wearing shattered glasses, a petrified stare and is suffocating among the poppies.
In “Alien,” a blue figure cusps her face in with her hands. She is portrayed possessing bright red hair as the poppies with the universal two long streaming tears iconic to Milton’s artistry.
Along with this red imagery, Milton uses vibrant colors to express other sides of her community — creativity, brilliance and intellectual capabilities portrayed by vivid patterns. “Apologetically BLK” also includes her pieces “Pirate Jenny,” “Masking” and a few others.
The BAM Festival’s welcome reception Nov. 8 will also include a concert by the musician DJ Femme Noir earlier that evening at the Shannon Sunset Lounge, according to the Wisconsin Union website.
The reception will include food and promote a space for socializing where people can interact and discuss before the festival’s events the following day, Shasparay said.
