New Wheaton College art gallery celebrates abolitionist history

Your past may be stained, but your future is untouched.

It's a theme that emanates throughout a newly launched art exhibit at Wheaton College called “Second Line: The Art of Social Justice.”

The exhibit features linoleum cut prints by artist Steve Prince, a New Orleans native who drew inspiration from the “dirge” and “second line” heard at jazz funerals in his city.

“The dirge is the slow, mournful tune that's played for someone that's passed away,” he said. “The musicians will purposefully make music that is very slow, to draw the audience to feel a sense of sorrow, to feel a sense of hurt, to feel a sense of pain.”

The Wheaton College community has publicly gone through many of those emotions in recent months in response to former political science professor Larycia Hawkins being placed on leave after saying Christians and Muslims worship the same God. Hawkins and the evangelical school came to a confidential agreement in February under which they parted ways.

Now, a new leaf is being turned on campus, one that aligns well with Prince's work and his interpretation of the “second line.”

“The second line comes in once the person is laid to rest,” he said. “The music transforms from a slow, mournful tune to a celebratory one. I hope you see that the dirge is not simply to mourn what is dead. The dirge is to grapple with the issues that we're dealing with in society, serious issues that we have between us ... in order for us to hopefully one day receive a second line.”

Prince was on campus Friday and will be back today doing a live drawing of a 4- by 12-foot graphite piece that will line a hallway leading into the exhibit, which will be on display through January.

“The image that I'm thinking about for this particular piece is one that will speak historically about what's taking place in this American landscape, speaking about some of the scars, some of the stains within our history,” he said.

Prince said two days will be enough time to complete the project. “It's a design challenge,” he said. “I've done bigger in less time, so I know I can do it. It's not as much pressure as it may seem.”

Other pieces in the exhibit reference biblical stories, such as the return of the Prodigal Son.

“When you see those pieces, I hope you see the historical stories that are embedded within there, but I'm not just keeping them in a place of sorrow,” Prince said. “There's always a remanent of hope embedded within my work.”

In the 1800s, slaves found hope and refuge along the Underground Railroad in Wheaton College's Blanchard Hall, the limestone landmark where Prince's art is now on display. Wheaton College President's Art Commission member and art professor Joel Sheesley said what happened to Hawkins certainly influenced what officials decided to feature in the gallery, but overall, the reason for creating it was driven by a desire to bring Blanchard Hall's abolitionist and Underground Railroad history to light.

“People not only hid here, they worshipped here because this was the center for Wheaton College's worship services,” Sheesley said. “(The gallery's) mission is to, in the future, continue to address these kinds of themes and become a place for conversation and dialogue about racial relations and healing, really.”

Many students and faculty members protested the college's treatment of Hawkins when she was put on leave and called upon the Wheaton community and other evangelical Christian institutions to reject racism, sexism and Islamophobia. During the announcement of Hawkins' departure, President Philip Ryken said he was committed to restoring “what is lost and repair what is broken” on campus.

Gallery Co-Director Shawn Okpebholo agreed that the Hawkins controversy was not the reason the gallery was created, as discussions of launching it had been ongoing for about four years. But he does believe, as a Christian, that it wasn't just by chance that it was launched during a time of healing for the school.

“The art reflects some of the things we've gone through and some of the hope that hopefully is to come from the situation,” he said. “I think it's here for a purpose and it's relevant.”