Last week, the Starlight Terrace in the Student Union was lined with art from various students representing different forms of identity.
The Oklahoma State Artist Society hosted the Melting Pot Identity Exhibit on Thursday evening. Daniel King, a senior art student and the driving force behind the exhibit, said the purpose of this show was to create a dialogue surrounding identity through visual arts covering subjects such as religion, body image, sexuality, gender and race.
“It was two-fold,” King said. “One of the purposes was to get students involved and have a show that’s stress-free to enter and the second one was to have a show to facilitate a discussion about identity.”
The show was open to any students at the university to feature any of their art work that they feel represented their identities. King himself displayed two of his own pieces at the exhibit.
“My body of work deals with critiquing gender stereotypes specficially mascuality,” King said. “Every one of my pieces presents a different masculine stereotype or idea.”
The exhibit opened at 6 p.m. to the general public to come in and look at the art work displayed. At 7 p.m., Krystle Brewer and Mary Kathryn Roeller, two graduate art history students, presented and led a panel discussion about popular art pieces throughout history that represented gender and sexuality.
“I wanted to give the opportunity to the art history graduate students to create a panel discussion about previous exhibits and exhibitions surrounding identity,” King said. “It provided context and emphasized the significance of identity art which this show is all about.”
One of the pieces displayed at the show created by senior art student, Jini Kim.Â
Another piece displayed at the show created by apparel merchandising graduate student, Amoha Das.
More art work by various students that were showcased at the exhibit on Thursday evening.