Art exhibition honors Hispanic heritage

The University of North Georgia (UNG) Department of Visual Arts and the Multicultural Student Affairs (MSA) office partnered for the 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month Student Art Exhibition. This is the second time the event has been held.

Hispanic Heritage Month, an annual celebration of the history and culture of Latinx and Hispanic communities in the United States, ran from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. The exhibition ran from Sept. 23 to Oct. 14 in the new Student Gallery in the Arts & Technology Building on UNG's Gainesville Campus.

"It is important to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month to recognize the contributions of Latinx people to the United States," Kyle Murphy, associate director of MSA, said. "These contributions can come in many forms. In the case of this event, it is art. Events like these demonstrate the vibrancy and variety present among UNG's Latinx students."

The exhibition featured pieces in painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, photography, digital painting, and graphic design.

Dr. Ana Pozzi Harris, UNG senior lecturer of art history, shared that this event offered UNG students of Latin American descent the opportunity to voice their experiences through art. 

"Students explored subjects such as the importance of family bonds; the syncretic ancestry of Mesoamerican, indigenous and Christian beliefs; and the expressive power of colorful music and dance in celebrations," Pozzi Harris said.

Featured artists included: Mikey Avila, Nam-Suny Bolles, Roxanne de la Rosa, Julian Díaz, Regan Ferreira, Esmeralda Figueroa, Phia Gomez, Stephanie Leyva, Ivette Mata, Sophia Meneses San Roman, Susana Olivo Sandoval, Victoria Ordoñez, Nancy Pacheco, Elizabeth Padilla Brun, Michelle Perry, Brady Portillo, Kayleigh Riker, Maria-Paola Russi, Amihan Spence, Evelyn Tello-Mendoza, Mirna Turcios-Galvez, Daniel Valencia and Natalia Velez-Carrero.

A reception and awards ceremony was held Oct.14 with Wendy Medrano, '19, as exhibition judge. There were six countries represented in the exhibition: Mexico, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Colombia, Perú, and Trinidad and Tobago, and five awards of equal rank were given at the ceremony. The award winners were Leyva, Russi, Velez-Carrero, Brun, and Riker.