MICA hosts Women of Color Artists Panel to commemorate Black History Month
Honduran-Dominican visual artist and designer, Yngrid Chacon sells her artwork following the Women of Color Artists Panel on Feb. 23 (Michael Hernández/The Black Explosion)
Jasmin Dixon felt distraught and confused after being unexpectedly laid off from an investment firm in D.C. She had been at this corporate job for a little over six months prior to her termination and was the only black woman in a department dominated by white men. For the entire duration of her lunch break, she cried on the phone with her dad as she worried about her recently purchased townhome and an upcoming vacation.
Dixon, a marketing graduate from Baltimore, Maryland, was one of the five artists that spoke at The Women of Color (WOC) Artists Panel sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Student Involvement and Community Advocacy (MICA) on Feb. 26. She is now a marketing specialist and part-time Editor for The Vibe Room, a DMV magazine that highlights local creators.
“The WOC Artists Panel was inspired by the many students at the University of Maryland who feel lost in the technicality of how they are supposed to use the skills they have accumulated to create an authentic platform for themselves,” said Manpreet Dayal, an undergraduate student leader for the Arts and Advocacy Program within MICA.
Dayal emphasized the importance of needing to uplift the platform of those who have been ignored and undermined within every field and learn from those experiences to ensure the creation of more inclusive spaces.
Lily Diaz, a senior biology major, attended the panel because “you learn about other people and you see that you are not alone in what you’re doing. That there are people out there trying to make a difference.”
The panel covered a variety of topics ranging from finding inspiration to fighting systems of oppression. Each panelist gave their perspective by recounting experiences both growing up and in their respective fields.
Yngrid Chacon, a Honduran-Dominican visual artist and designer, recounted her artistic journey as “organic.” Initially, she shared her art with other artists and they showed her the opportunity to create a unique vision. She then started posting her art on social media platforms where she gained exposure.
“Slowly I was able to see that it resonated with people because it wasn’t something they saw every day,” Chacon said.
Chacon also expressed the importance of creating a culture through her art, referencing the colonizers erasing the culture of her Mayan ancestors.
“Now, we are not in that position anymore. So it is up to us to create our culture and to continue it on. Even if it is just for my family, I'm creating a culture that will not be erased in the way it was before,” Chacon said.
For Nikita Yogaraj, a Tamil-American artist based in Baltimore, it was difficult to explore her artistic talents because her father told her it wasn’t a real job. The self-taught artist said she was never good at doing just one thing. The 26-year-old currently works in global health research but also prioritizes her happiness and delves into creativity on the side.
Yogaraj highlights aspects of diverse women and feminine bodies in her artwork. During her adolescence growing into a “hairy brown girl with a mustache” caused a lot of confusion because no one ever talked to her about the changes in her body. She said it’s important to include these changes in her art so people know “it’s normal and not shameful.”
Tiffany Hoang, a senior information science major, stressed the importance of marginalized voices in the arts.
“Making a space specifically for those who are marginalized such as women of color who cross two different boundaries such as gender and race is specifically important because they don’t have a lot of spaces to express themselves,” Hoang said.
Safiyah Cheatam, a Baltimore-based interdisciplinary artist, uses her platform to reword everyday language that can be harmful. She is the co-producer of the podcast “Obsidian,” where all the episodes are made with an afro-futuristic lense. For Cheatam, her podcast is the practice of envisioning a better life for black people and a way out of the current systems of oppression.
Ghonva Ghauri, MICA’s Multiracial and Native American Indian/Indigenous Student Involvement and Advocacy coordinator, closed the event by acknowledging the Piscataway Conoy Land, a commemoration she tries to do at all her events.
“It’s important to think about the land we are on and whose land it once was and who were forcibly removed from it. There are students right now that are part of the Piscataway Tribe and so it's important to think about where we are, and the fact that indigenous communities are not this extinct thing. I think in our heads sometimes we think about it in the past, but they are here,” Ghauri said.