During Tuesday's Black Student Association meeting, discussion focused on a piece of art that has gotten students talking.
The artwork, created by senior Marcus Holloway, is a collage that features photos of black men and women in various acts and situations. Written in white letters on a black frame around the photos are expletives, controversial language and sexual references.
"The pictures are offensive because they degrade black women," said Nataki Sanders, political director of BSA. "It's whole point was to show that black men degrade black women, but women don't see that. They see the explicitness.
"The message was trying to shock people. But a lot of people saw the pictures and thought, 'Eh, no big deal.' I was offended by people saying it's no big deal."
Other members of BSA also said they were offended by the artwork. But not everyone said they had a problem with it.
"It was a form of an artist's will," sophomore Mario Leslie said. "It's about him putting out his point of view on his concept of life.
"Besides, you see stuff like this (treatment of black women) all the time. And what's the problem with a man showing a black woman's body?"
As a senior studio art major, Holloway created his work as a project for his advanced photography class. There are no assignments for the course. Instead, students prepare projects, which the professor critiques.
Holloway said he felt he had very good reasons for creating this artwork.
"I wanted to start doing work that mattered to me, and it's an issue that matters in my life," he said. "I didn't want to put something out there to offend people, just show that it shouldn't be that way."
In the largest photo, a naked woman lies in a fetal position with green handprints covering her body. In another smaller photo, a woman pulls down her dress to expose herself.
These words and images symbolize several things, according to a statement Holloway posted on the display case where the piece sits. The main idea expressed in the artwork is that black men commonly mistreat black women without question from either the men or women.
The photos showing green hands or handprints and covered in green symbolize the "illness" that is the mistreatment, the statement said.
The statement also said the women performing lewd acts depict the effects of mistreatment the artist has seen personally.
The artist photographed his mother and daughter to show that some men disrespect women, but hold the females in their family in the highest regard, the statement said. The black men shown in the artwork portray possible settings where mistreatment of women takes place.
The words written around the photos are phrases that the artist has heard in real life or has said himself at some point, the statement said.
Holloway said he feels that some people may not be looking closely enough at his work.
"Women may not be getting the whole gist of it," he said. "I'm kind of upset because people are getting the opposite message.
"I'm putting the negativity in this piece that black men use on a normal basis. It's very frequent in our culture."
But Holloway said he is glad there has been controversy over his work.
"Even if people don't feel I've displayed it in the right way the issue itself is up for discussion," he said.
Mark Sawrie, associate professor of art who teaches Holloway's advanced photography class, said he believes the controversy has been a good learning experience.
"Images are powerful and you need to be careful with them," Sawrie said. "The artwork is brutally honest, he said, and the language used is similar to what is heard in rap videos.
"But in those cases, the medium is so pretty it makes it easy to look at. This piece was pretty raw," Sawrie said.
"He didn't dress up the issue at all."
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