UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The HUB-Robeson Galleries present "Timely Warnings," a group exhibit described as "a showcase of artworks addressing sexual assault, the aftermath and how the Penn State community has addressed it through campus initiatives and activism," from featuring drawings, photographs, sculptures and paintings by University Park students and faculty.
The exhibit will be on display from May 6-19. A free, public reception with light refreshments will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on May 15.
The show features works by Tracin Bauman, Joy Blazofsky, Jessica Farra, Dani Fruehan, Kaitlyn Innersy, Kayleigh Quinnan, Sophia Krupsha, Kaitlyn Innerst, Elizabeth Sickles, Melisas Leaym-Fernandez and Steven Rubin.
Krupsha, a rising junior in the painting and drawing concentration of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Program, approached the HUB-Robeson Galleries with the exhibition idea after seeing how common artworks addressing sexual assault are in her community. She began to ask the artists about their motivation for creating pieces such as those exhibited in this show and came across a disturbingly common shared experience of abuse among her peers.
“As a survivor of sexual assault, myself, I felt it necessary to understand what happened to me as a call for activism and not something that I should hide or be ashamed of," said Krupsha. "Time after time I have witnessed my peers suffer the same abuse only to be doubted and shamed into silence while their abuser goes unpunished and their stories go unheard. By curating this show, I wanted to give that voice back to those affected by this issue, and call to attention how frequent these crimes are.”
Dedicated to presenting the art of our time, HUB-Robeson Galleries have presented 110 artworks by students in the 2018-19 school year, addressing questions with critical importance to contemporary life including education, equity, sustainability, ethics and civics.
The galleries, a unit of Penn State Student Affairs, are open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on this and other exhibitions, visit the gallery website.