COD museum exhibit speaks to 'TRUTHS' of racism and COVID-19

It isn't a large art exhibition.

So far, about a half-dozen artists have provided a sampling of works.

But their complexity is vast.

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn launched the online exhibit with few parameters.

Curators invited student and community artists to submit works speaking to two pandemics: COVID-19 and systemic racism.

"We wanted to just make a space where people can start to think about and express what's going on and not dictating what that expression is or putting a value on necessarily the quality of the finished piece," museum director Justin Witte said.

Instead of just repeating solidarity statements, the museum wanted to take action in response to the police killing of George Floyd and the widespread protests that followed.

So Witte and gallery assistant Heidi Holmes started "TRUTHS," an exhibit that provides an outlet for artists to process and grapple with the health crisis and a national reckoning over racial injustices.

"We were thinking of what we could do to help, and while we wanted to help, we also didn't want to take away from the important voices of the Black Lives Matter movement," Holmes said. "So we thought what better than to share the voices of our community, to be of service to their expression by just opening a creative forum for them to speak to us and the other members of their community."

College of DuPage student Charles Morrison shared his voice through a video piece inspired by roots reggae musicians and nature.

"Understand who you are, what you stand for, what you stand with, what you're willing to be a part of or watch happen," Morrison says in the video. "Now more than ever, I encourage you all to consider who are you? Who will you be in this life?"

Fellow TRUTHS artist Cathy Germay created two paintings in support of Black Lives Matter. "Fight the Good Fight Together" shows a movement symbol of raised, clenched fists, one Black, one white.

Her other painting, "Stained in Brutality," depicts a shattered police badge and a Black man putting his hands up in surrender.

Photographer Sheryl Clough contributed to the exhibit with a picture of an overpass display of red cups, stuck through the openings in a chain-link fence to spell out "FLOYD."

"I was struck by the aptness and beauty of the metaphor: breaching the fences that often divide us by honoring George Floyd's name with a large heart," she wrote in her artist statement.

In response to the coronavirus, College of DuPage photography professor Tim Arroyo made "Viral Girl," a composite of photographs and warning symbols.

"The youthfulness of the subject was intended to demonstrate that anyone could be affected by the virus," Arroyo said in his statement.

Curators will continue to post artwork on a rolling basis until the end of the month. Anyone can participate by submitting art through the Cleve Carney website, theccma.org.

The museum, meanwhile, has long presented works by artists of color and remains committed to continuing to share and uplift their voices, Witte said.

"I can say that we are also having discussions on how we can better be better citizens, better allies and better represent the community that we serve," Witte said, "and I would hope that other institutions are doing the same."