Candles and sunflowers marked the entrance to Omega Phi Beta’s first gallery walk Wednesday night.
The gallery walk was intended to display art sharing the stories of sexual assault survivors in an empowering environment, coordinator and Omega Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. member Carlie Yancey said.
Art prints were displayed on music stands, and each was accompanied by a small electric candle. Twenty stands lined the room. Most of the pieces were submitted anonymously.
Performances included a keynote speaker, spoken word poetry and live music.
Omega Phi Beta’s philanthropy is dedicated to fighting violence against women, Yancey said.
The gallery walk was aimed to raise awareness about issues women face, she said. It’s an opportunity for people who haven’t been directly affected by sexual assault to learn from survivors’ stories.
Jennifer Samaniego Burch, crisis intervention services coordinator at Middle Way House, spoke about her personal experience as a survivor of sexual assault and emphasized the importance of the community’s attitude toward survivors.
“It’s super important to create a space in which survivors feel safe coming forward,” she said.
If survivors’ stories are met with empathy instead of blame, she said, it can change their trajectory.
It’s important to recognize issues of sexual assault aren’t temporary, but are real things that survivors face constantly, she said.
Admission to the event was a $3 suggested donation benefiting Middle Way House. Omega Phi Beta member Deisy Lopez said the gallery walk is the sorority’s first event acting as a fundraiser for Middle Way.
Marselis Byers performed a spoken word poem titled “My Wife.”
“The poem brings to light things African Americans have survived,” he said. “Tonight’s all about survivorship and moving forward.”
Communicating through art allows for a level of intimacy usually not reached, Byers said.
“Art is the physical manifestation of thought,” he said. “All art is a way of communicating all the depth, all the nooks and crannies of the mind.”
One piece featured a girl standing with her back to the camera with “not apologizing for my gendered form has been my greatest act of political resistance” written over her back.
Staysha Asoera said this piece stuck out to her especially.
Asoera said art has the power to form emotional connections that can’t be found in other mediums.
Events like the gallery walk are necessary on campus, Omega Phi Beta member Anahy Mayorga said, especially after Little 500.
“We just wanted to create an atmosphere where people could come and feel open and welcome to share their feelings and what they’ve gone through,” Mayorga said. “We want this to be a healing place for them.”
