NSU's Seventh Annual African Presence Art Exhibition 2010

Nicole Porter Simms

Issue date: 2/9/10 Section: Current Affairs

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"We try to reinforce this month, what NSU does all year long and recognize the contributions of black citizens," stated President George L. Hanbury II at the grand opening of the Seventh Annual African Presence Art Exhibition. "NSU's black students are the minority majority…NSU wants to push the point of tolerance, technology and talent."

Attendees were treated to hor d'oeuvres, choral and dance performances, blues music, a brief explanation of the significance of the Highwaymen and a ritual Pouring of the Libation ceremony to honor African ancestors.

Cyril Blavo, Ph.D. and director of the Master's of Public Health Program at HPD, and Michael Andah, from the Ghana Association of South Florida, performed the pouring of the libation. Blavo translated, "Pouring of libation is customary in Ghana on occasions to acknowledge God and ancestors. This was originally a religious ritual now a cultural ritual, performed when a child is born, at weddings, funerals and so forth."

Gary Monroe, the curator of the collection at the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, explained the artwork, "Their [the Highwaymen] paintings weren't about the life they lived in everyday. They were about the erotic views around them."

"[This is an] affirmation of the possibilities available to artists, commented Nerissa Street, senior theatre major. The Highwaymen consisted of 26 African American youths from the Fort Pierce and Vero Beach area who broke the mold by forming a loosely organized group of entrepreneurial artists at a time when being black in Florida meant being subjected to Jim Crow laws - separate but equal.

The exhibition Road to Empowerment: Art of the Florida consists of more than 40 pieces of artwork selected from regional and private collections. The exhibit opened Feb. 4 and will be displayed through Sat. April 10 in the Second Floor Gallery, Alvin Sherman Library.

Tuesday, Feb. 16, exhibit curator, Gary Monroe will give a free talk in the Gallery about the collection on display. It is organized through the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences and is free to the public.

Click here for more Black History Month events.

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