Ashley Powell, a University at Buffalo graduate fine arts student, made international headlines last fall after she mysteriously and suddenly hung radically charged “black only” and “white only” signs around campus as part of an art project entitled Our Compliance.
Her goal was to provoke a searing conversation. According to the New York Times, “And indeed it did. The signs shocked students and jolted the university at a time when discussions about race and race relations have been prominent in the news.” The art project stirred controversy among school administrators, faculty members, and students are still deliberating whether to adopt guidelines for public art on campus.
“This piece was created to expose white privilege. Our society still actively maintains racist structures that benefit on group of people, and oppress another. This project makes forceful what has been easy for you to ignore,” said Powell. “Our society cannot heal or change until non-white people are able to confront and gain agency through our burdens, and white people are able to confront and become accountable for their privilege. It is a delusion to believe that we can change society without first changing ourselves.”
Our Compliance, the art action that utilized segregation-era signage to expose and critique white privilege, societal compliance, and institutional racism, was met with great support and great backlash.
Powell will present a talk on her controversial art project heard around the world, the dialogue she strategically created and how the segregation-era signage exposed and critiqued white privilege, societal compliance, and institutional racism.
A panel discussion will follow with experts in intellectual and critical art practice, visual studies and sociology who will discuss how critical race theory is often coupled with different artistic practices to influence consciousness and to begin to instill actual changes in society.