Ten works by contemporary Black artists from the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family collection are on view at Hamon’s Hawn Gallery until May 22. The exhibition, Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined, presents the work of artists, Dominic Chambers, Ryan Cosbert, Robert Hodge, Nelson Makamo, Delita Martin, Sungi Mlengeya, Mario Moore, Robert Pruitt, Athi-Patra Ruga, and Ferrari Sheppard. As described by the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Valerie Gillespie, on the installation, “Each composition within the collection offers a unique story. These non-linear narratives on the Black experience, with their own distinct actualities exhibit a reality not often portrayed, yet a collective, lived experience that strives to represent a livelihood untouched.”

This selection of works represents a fraction of the collection owned by the Beachums, who began acquiring works by Black artists in 2013. Of the works in their collection, they express a personal approach to their acquisitions, “We want to look back on each piece and know it represents something we love, something we remember, something historically significant, or something we never want to forget. The intergenerational component is what is most special.”

Kelvin Beachum graduated from SMU in 2010 with a B.A. in Economics and earned a Master of Liberal Studies in Organizational Dynamics in 2012. A four-year starter as offensive tackle for SMU Mustang football, he serves as a member of the Executive Boards for the Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Lyle School of Engineering. Named an SMU Emerging Leader in 2018, Kelvin honored the late Dennis Simon, his political science professor and mentor, by endowing SMU’s annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Simon’s name.

Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012, Kelvin has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Jets and now the Arizona Cardinals during his 10-year NFL career.

Jessica Beachum graduated from Baylor in 2011 with a degree in Sociology. She earned her B.S. in Nursing in 2017 from Duquesne University and her M.S. in Healthcare Delivery in 2021 from Arizona State University.

An exhibition catalogue of Narrative as Reality is available in print and pdf through the website.

OTHER SPRING 2022 EXHIBITIONS AT SMU LIBRARIES

Two other exhibitions at SMU Libraries offer excellent opportunities for visitors this spring and summer.

Continuing to May 23, In Search of Belonging at the Hamon Arts Library, first floor reading room presents an exhibition  organized by Pride@SMU, founded by SMU senior and Queer Senator Bri Tollie. Drawing upon oral history interviews and University archives, this student-led exhibition looks at the history of LGBTQ+ organizing on campus for equality and representation.

At the Hillcrest Exhibit Hall, Send Me a Postcard: Women on the Road Across 19th – 20th Century America explores the travel experience for women from the DeGolyer Library’s holdings of rare books, pamphlets, ephemera and manuscripts, including the Archives of Women of the Southwest. This exhibition continues to August 31.

More information: https://www.smu.edu/Libraries, or email hawngallery@smu.edu.

In 2011, the Princeton Review ranked Southern Methodist University as the eleventh worst university for gay students. Then, in a dramatic shift a decade later, Campus Pride listed it among ten religious schools living up to LGBTQ-inclusive values in August 2021. However, the struggle for LGBT campus acceptance has lasted far longer than just one decade.  For LGBT students at SMU, there is a wide legacy that has yet to be honored in a multidisciplinary, public-facing project synthesizing the documented history of LGBT students. 

Building on the research of the PRIDE@SMU capstone project, In Search of Belonging explores stories of LGBTQ+ student organizing — struggles for equality and recognition — through oral history and archival documents. From the eight-year fight to charter the first Gay and Lesbian Student Organization (GLSO), to the founding of SMU’s first ever gay fraternity, to the present-day work and testimonies of queer Mustangs, these past and present queer narratives elevate both the roots of the SMU LGBTQ+ community and the truth of what “Mustang Pride” looks and feels like today. Most of the LGBT student experience does not fit neatly into newspaper headlines; however, by outlining some of the key events, setbacks, and successes of the LGBT rights movement at SMU, this work initiates a conversation about LGBTQ+ acceptance on the Hilltop today, ultimately showing that there’s more work to be done.

In Search of Belonging challenges SMU to reckon with its long and recent history of LGBTQ+ marginalization, to acknowledge the pain and pride of its students, faculty, and alumni, and to live up to its stated values of equity and inclusivity — both on paper and in practice, so that every student feels like they belong.

What is the PRIDE@SMU Project? 

Founded by SMU senior and Queer Senator Bri Tollie, PRIDE@SMU is a student-led, interdisciplinary research team investigating LGBTQ+ history and experiences at SMU. The project launched in August 2021 with the help of SMU’s Office of Engaged Learning and over 10 campus partners and mentors. Since its launch, the PRIDE team has interviewed 14 queer SMU students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as hosted the first-ever Queer State of the University Address at SMU on February 11th, 2022. Along with this event, this research is contributing to the In Search of Belonging exhibit, as well as informing students and administrators for ongoing community event planning and campus policy reform. Managed by a diverse group of LGBTQ+ students and allies, PRIDE@SMU combines archival, oral, and institutional history to better understand the queer community’s roots at SMU.

Opening reception on April 23, 1 – 3 pm:

RSVP for the Opening Reception here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-search-of-belonging-opening-reception-tickets-304755591177. This exhibition runs from April 23 – May 23, 2022. 

Photo: Ashe Thye, SMU Pride, Student, ’23.

Several paintings by contemporary Black artists from the Jessica and Kelvin Beachum Family collection will be on view at Hamon’s Hawn Gallery beginning February 18 and continuing to May 22. The exhibition, Narrative as Reality: A World Reimagined, presents the work of artists, Dominic Chambers, Ryan Cosbert, Robert Hodge, Nelson Makamo, Delita Martin, Sungi Mlengeya, Mario Moore, Robert Pruitt, Athi-Patra Ruga, and Ferrari Sheppard. As described by the exhibition’s curator, Dr. Valerie Gillespie, on the installation, “Each composition within the collection offers a unique story. These non-linear narratives on the Black experience, with their own distinct actualities exhibit a reality not often portrayed, yet a collective, lived experience that strives to represent a livelihood untouched.”

This selection of paintings represents a fraction of the collection owned by the Beachums, who began acquiring works by Black artists in 2013. Of the works in their collection, they express a personal approach to their acquisitions, “We want to look back on each piece and know it represents something we love, something we remember, something historically significant, or something we never want to forget. The intergenerational component is what is most special.”

Kelvin Beachum graduated from SMU in 2010 with a B.A. in Economics and earned a Master of Liberal Studies in Organizational Dynamics in 2012. A four-year starter as offensive tackle for SMU Mustang football, he serves as a member of the Executive Boards for the Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Lyle School of Engineering. Named an SMU Emerging Leader in 2018, Kelvin honored the late Dennis Simon, his political science professor and mentor, by endowing SMU’s annual Civil Rights Pilgrimage in Simon’s name.

Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012, Kelvin has played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the New York Jets and now the Arizona Cardinals during his 10-year NFL career.

Jessica Beachum graduated from Baylor in 2011 with a degree in Sociology. She earned her B.S. in Nursing in 2017 from Duquesne University and her M.S. in Healthcare Delivery in 2021 from Arizona State University.

An exhibition catalogue of Narrative as Reality is available in print and pdf through the website.

OTHER SPRING 2022 EXHIBITIONS AT SMU LIBRARIES

Two other exhibitions at SMU Libraries offer excellent opportunities for visitors this spring. At DeGolyer Library, the exhibition, Black Lives, Black Letters: Primary Sources in African American History, opens February 10. It features archival holdings of the Library including rare books, pamphlets, broadsides, sheet music, prints, photographs, manuscripts, and ephemera documenting aspects of the Black experience in America, from the colonial period to the present. Among figures represented in the exhibition are documents from Phillis Wheatley to Toni Morrison, from Frederick Douglass to Barack Obama. Other figures, some who are unknown, portray Black lives in many fields.

Bridwell Library’s exhibition, A Symbiosis of Script, Font, and Form: A Selection of Artists’ Books, open through March 31, draws from the Library’s Special Collection. The selections for this exhibition offers artists’ books “in which artists or circles of collaborators have integrated corporeal elements of the book form into the literature in sensitive and sometimes astounding ways.”

More information: https://www.smu.edu/Libraries, or email hawngallery@smu.edu.