Most BU students have seen that little glass-walled room on the second floor of the GSU – just up the stairs, to the left, a sight en route to the bathroom or across the way to the Metcalf Hall. This past Tuesday night, this tiny glass-walled room – the Sherman Gallery – became the venue for a moving event with a moving message.
In partnership with the Western African Research Association, the gallery currently features the exhibit “Yelimane Fall: African Calligraphy in Action.” The Sengalese artist Yelimane Fall is also an activist. Fall’s personal motto is “Faith, Uprightness and Knowledge for an interior and universal peace.” This motto reads like the thesis statement for the vibrant body of work adorning the walls of the gallery. Some works were titled succinctly, “The Book,” or “Peace and Prosperity,” while others were named in phrases such as, “Your partner in life is your wife,” or “If men learn to live together, they will have paradise on Earth and in the afterlife.” The works feature Arabic calligraphy most prominently, as well as acrylics, pencil and patterned fabrics. Some pieces were made with reflective material backing as a metaphorical representation intended to encourage inner reflection.
Tuesday night’s event was entitled “Say No to Sexual Violence Through Art.” The organization Promote Congo co-sponsored the evening. This Boston-based nonprofit seeks to advocate human rights and alleviate poverty in the Congo. The group’s primary course of action is providing small business ideas in the Congo with microloans. Promote Congo places special emphasis on reaching out to women and children. This was the group’s second event at BU. A silent art auction for one of Yelimane Fall’s pieces took place in an effort to raise money for the organization.
The evening did not only feature visual art, however. Through a series of performances in the form of music and poetry readings, the Western African Research Association and Promote Congo communicated a message of the strength of women and the inhumanity of domestic violence. A BU sophomore recited his poem “This Girl,” a representative from Promote Congo delivered a speech on gender-based violence with the help of a translator, and another man recited a French poem on violence against women. Words dedicated to the abolition of domestic violence could not have comingled more harmoniously with art dedicated to the promotion of peace.
The exhibition “Yelimane Fall: African Calligraphy in Action” is open to the public until December 16. For more information, visit www.bu.edu.cfa/visual-art. For more information on Promote Congo and its mission, visit www.promotecongo.org.
