ARTS & POP CULTURE

SMFA’s Artists of Color Union deconstructs identity, constructs community

by Megan Szostak

Arts Editor

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts is more racially diverse than the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering, but white students still make up the plurality of those enrolled. The Artists of Color Union (ACU) at the SMFA seeks to center the experiences of artists of color at the SMFA and at Tufts, and provides a space for artists to connect with and support one another.

“As a freshman, I lived in the Beacon [Street] dorms, so trying to go to Medford and find clubs there that spoke about my identities was kind of hard,” Geovani Cruz, a co-leader of the ACU, said. “I kind of felt at home with ACU.”

According to Cruz and Freya Gupta, the ACU’s treasurer, the organization began to fall into obscurity in 2020 after its former leadership graduated, but was revitalized through the efforts of members and rising leadership.

“It was kind of in our hands whether we wanted to continue it or not,” Gupta, a third-year combined degree student, said. “We kind of wanted to create a space for BIPOC students to share their identities

VIA @SMFA.ACU ON INSTAGRAM The SMFA Artists of Color Union are pictured at the fall 2021 club fair.

and their culture in a space that’s predominantly white.”

The leadership structure of the ACU is unique in that although different positions are held by different executive board members, responsibility is greatly shared among members, resulting in a collaborative practice.

“Tufts wants us to have the president, vice president, secretary, all those things, but, as a club, we want everybody to have a voice and to share their experiences and to share leadership,” Cruz said.

Gupta shared that this structure results in a collaborative experience for members.

“Whoever is comfortable handling a certain project will take charge of that, and then we will work very collaboratively,” she said.

The ACU hosts events and regular meetings during the semester that serve to build community through artistic and social pathways. One event that ACU leadership planned for this semester was a mock review board event for artists of color.

Review boards, which are final evaluations for students enrolled in eight or more SHUs of studio classes, require artists to speak holistically about their semester’s work to faculty and peers for approximately one hour — a demanding yet valuable experience for students. The ACU’s mock review boards, which took place on Dec. 3, provided artists a

see ARTISTS OF COLOR UNION, page 10 BEATs members find community through shared love for drumming

by Emmy Wenstrup

Assistant Arts Editor

Tufts has no shortage of quirky acronyms for quirky student groups, between TUSC (Tufts University Social Collective), SUCC (Stand-up Comedy Collective), TDC (Tufts Dance Collective), TMC (Tufts Mountain Club) and many more. What better name, then, for Tufts’ only street percussion group than BEATs (Bangin’ Everything At Tufts).

Daniella Rothstein, a sophomore who joined the group this fall, described the group rather simply: “[It’s] just fun making music in a group dynamic with very cool, inclusive people.”

She joined the group after seeing it advertised at the student organizations fair this fall. “They seemed like a very cool group of people, so I threw my name down on a whim,” she said. She described her reaction to the first email the group sent after the club fair: “I was like, oh, these guys are funny. It’s a very clever, subtle humor email.”

She added that her previous drumming experience supplemented her decision to audition: “I [thought] I can fit their vibe, and then [it’s] also a hobby that I enjoy.”

A friend referred sophomore Luke Pautler to the group and told him about this same group dynamic. Unlike Rothstein, he came in without much drumming experience. Nonetheless, the casual atmosphere of the group drew him in. “I signed up and auditioned and seemed to love the people and the vibe, and it just seemed like a great thing,” Pautler said.

BEATsrehearses once a week, and Pautler described a typical rehearsal. “We show up to the Harleston basement, pull all our stuff out of the closet, just an incredible collection of … pans and bottles and all kinds of stuff, and we open up just kind of talking, catching up and also beginning to jam out a little bit and just kind of feel a

COURTESY BEATS

BEATs club members are pictured. groove.” After some casual pre-rehearsal jamming, the meeting begins by either learning a new song or reviewing something they’ve been working on.

Rothstein added that the group’s camaraderie is so strong that “every once in a while, people need to check in and be like, well, yeah, let’s get back to drumming.”

When learning new material, the group’s music relies on the memories of past performances from older members. “None of our stuff is written down. It’s a lot of fun to pick stuff up and really have to talk through it and hear it with people,” Pautler said.

Of the group dynamic, Rothstein described it as very supportive. “I think that there’s a lot of love between all the BEATs members,” she said. “It’s a nice combination of just people hanging out together, and then also growing together in a certain field.”

She added that the group is unique because everyone is laid-back and rejects any sort of cliquey dynamic. “Everyone talks to everyone, which is a really niche thing with a group this size … [everyone is] very just kind of light-hearted,” she said.

Despite only having been in the group for a few months, both Rothstein and Pautler repeatedly mentioned their love for the group and its members. Discussions of “cool people,” “a lot of fun” and overall good vibes dominated our conversation.

All this energy and love for percussion ultimately results in a passionate and engaging performance. BEATs’ November performance at the sQ! a cappella show intermission was full of energy and fun, with enthusiastic shouts from members complementing highly stylized and practiced percussion. If you didn’t get to see the group then or at its end of semester show just yesterday on Dec. 5, make sure to look out for more of BEATSs’ concerts in the spring! The group’s wide range of unconventional instruments allows it to truly, as the name suggests, bang on everything at Tufts.

Tufts University Art Galleries reflect on stolen land and resilient communities

Artwork on display at the Tufts University Art Galleries.

COURTESY SADIE LEITE

by Sadie Leite

Assistant Arts Editor

In the Aidekman Arts Center, the Tufts University Art Galleries present art with poignant stories, carefully curated by members of the Tufts community. Each exhibit showcases the current passions that the art world at Tufts wishes to share with a greater audience.

A colorful mural, situated before the center’s doors in the Jackson Gym parking lot, stretches with striking blues, greens and reds. The seemingly moving geometric shapes cause the surrounding gray parking lot to fade into the periphery.

Artist Erin Genia created the mural. Her work’s focus is Native American and Indigenous arts and culture. She teaches about this topic and creates art with varying media to highlight its importance. The piece is titled “Wakpa” which comes from the word used for river in Dakota. Specifically, Genia created the mural as a depiction of the Mystic River, the local body of water near Tufts. Genia hopes to honor an Indigenous perspective with the mural: the mosaic of its colors representing, among other things, the clay, water and earth, critical Native American daily resources. In addition to its effects on indigenous populations, Genia’s work shows how colonialism and land seizure changed the river significantly, as well.

The artwork is a part of “Unsettling the Archive: Exploring Tufts’ Relationships with Land,” an exhibition in the Aidekman Arts Center. The exhibition has used materials from the Tufts University Permanent Art and Tufts Digital Collections and Archives to present a collection of pieces that aims to further a dialogue about the history of Tufts’ location.

The Slater Concourse Gallery is an open hallway past the entrance of the center. The following art, the bulk of the collection with the mural “Wakpa,” starts with oil paintings from the archives. The pictures in gold frames highlight early scenes of the Tufts campus from the 19th century. With each painting, Tufts’ buildings accumulate, showcasing how the university’s construction altered land stolen from the Indigenous population.

The exhibition also features maps that outline Saunkskwa lands, starting in the 1500s and ending in the 1700s. As the years progress, English colonizers can be seen invading the Indigenous land; colonialism left a dangerous impact even before Tufts’ establishment in 1852.

The Indigenous lands that Tufts now occupies once belonged to the Massachusett and Wôpanâak peoples. In the late 16th to early 17th centuries, the female tribe leader Squaw Sachem of Mistick, also called the Saunkskwa of Missitekw, reigned. In a portrait of Saunkskwa, her striking figure stands in front of a background detailing the area’s distinctive natural elements. The piece serves to paint a narrative of the land, emphasizing the historical figures that impacted its modern foundation.

Immediately to the left of the entrance, glass doors open to a large gallery with colorful and playful art. Paintings, photographs and hanging sculptures fill the space.

This show is called “Staying With the Trouble.” The title comes from a book written in 2016 by Donna Haraway, “Staying With the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene.” Haraway is an ecofeminist; in her book, she maintains that society must learn to cultivate a healthier relationship with the world and its living parts. She references Indigenous knowledge in her steps for a solution.

Judy Chicago’s work stands out in the gallery. It features colorful photos with female figures painted in strange colors. The artist collaborated with students from the California Institute of the Arts’ Feminist Art Program.

Student Faith Wilding is painted green in one piece. Her body is smothered by red smoke; she sits in front of a desolate desert. It comments on the oppressive, often destructive actions of male artists who dominate the Land Art genre. The smoke, specific colors and vulnerable body emphasize the lighter parts of the genre, and how this perspective is powerful too, perhaps even more so than the better known pieces created mainly by men.

Down the stairs is the final exhibition: “Connecting Threads / Survivor Objects.” The collection features objects from the past which tell stories of Armenian communities. The relics emphasize the richness of the culture almost decimated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul-Hamid II in the 1890s and the Armenian Genocide of 1915–22.

Tufts University Art Galleries explore engaging and critical stories of other communities and their relationships to our own community here at Tufts. They provide opportunities to use art to expand our perspectives and knowledge in crucial ways.

Anyone can be part of the art community at Tufts: simply visit the galleries and learn. “Unsettling the Archive: Exploring Tufts’ Relationship with Land” is open until April 24.

SMFA's Artists of Color Union creates safe space for expression

ARTISTS OF COLOR UNION

continued from page 9 chance to practice sharing their work in a truncated review board format.

“Our freshmen and sophomores have never had an in-person review board,” Gupta said. “We thought that it would be a very important experience for all of us.”

For many members of the ACU, their artwork and their identities overlap. Cruz, a third-year student in the BFA program, shared that both his past experience living undocumented in the U.S. and his Salvadoran identity informs much of what he creates.

“It was not until this summer and then about a month ago that I received my permanent residency,” Cruz said. “Now I’m kind of more open about my own identities … [my] freshman and sophomore year, I wasn’t able to actually talk about what my work was.”

Cruz explained that his work has “dramatically changed” since receiving his permanent residency and referenced several recent woodcut reliefs he created that deconstruct the flag of El Salvador by identifying symbols and colors that appear in the flag.

“A lot of my work is about deconstructing my identity of being Salvadoran,” Cruz said. “Living undocumented for so long, I wasn’t able to be in my own country even though I have documentation that said I’m a citizen there … Now that I’m able to, I feel like my work has dramatically changed into documenting everything that I’ve lived for, and how that kind of informs my art practice as of now and what I can envision for the future.”

Gupta, who shared that their artwork is also informed by many aspects of her identity including their sexuality and ethnicity, sees the ACU as a space where she can speak freely about their work.

“It feels like such a safe space for me because you get to be who you are without having to filter any aspect of your identity, which is this power that ACU gives me which I’m very grateful for,” she said.

Odessa Gaines

K-Weekly Fostering a community with KoDA

While I typically use this space to write about Korean songs and artists that I think everyone should be listening to, today’s column will center Tufts’ very own K-pop dance association cover group, while recognizing the community it has built.

The Korean Dance Association, or KoDA, is a student-run group that covers popular dances from K-pop groups in showcases, weekly meetings and music videos. This newer Tufts group brings together lovers of K-pop and dance from the Tufts community to offer a space for expression and celebration of the arts.

In researching for this article, I sat down with the club’s co-captain and co-founder, Alyssa Eakman, and its underclassman representative, Mary Wilson. The two members explained how KoDA began as a way for Tufts students who fancy both dance and K-pop to mix the two. The club also has its origins in the Korean Student Association’s dance performances.

While the team was virtual during the 2020–21 academic year, KoDA still participated in meetings and cultural shows. However, being in person has allowed the group to come together on a whole other level this semester.

“It’s been very positive,” Wilson said when asked how the group has shaped her college experience. “There are other people that are really interested in [K-pop]. I can definitely make a lot of friends.”

Like any group with a highly passionate member base, KoDA has been able to build a strong community among its members.

From filming music videos to making costumes, to journeying to sets together, KoDA is a family with a clear love for connecting with others through music and dance. The group’s members often enjoy K-pop music videos together and talk about different K-pop artists. And they work tirelessly to prepare for their performances.

“I’ve made a lot of friends through [KoDA]. We love dancing, we love K-pop, we love K-pop dancing,” Eakman said.

KoDA unites students who might not have otherwise met each other. Wilson, for example, mentioned that she enjoys interacting with upperclassmen, while Eakman, on the other hand, likes to work with the incoming classes.

Beyond Tufts, the group has collaborated with other university dance cover groups for showcases and virtual events. In the future, its members hope to leave an even larger impact on the Tufts and wider K-pop communities.

“I think that would be a great thing to develop on and have a huge collaborative effort on,” Eakman said.

These connections not only offer a larger community among the groups but also for those of us who love to watch and enjoy the art. As the group continues to grow in popularity and recognition, it is clear that they will leave lasting connections and impressions on our Jumbo family.

With all the blood, sweat and tears they put into their practice, the community that KoDA is building can’t be stopped, so let’s treasure their passion and love.

You can follow and support KoDA here.

Odessa Gaines is a first-year who has not yet declared a major. Odessa can be reached at kayla.gaines@tufts.edu.