Mural celebrates inclusivity, hospitality

The Multicultrural Center has created a new mural to represent the values of the center.

The mural’s theme of “inclusivity and radical hospitality” is portrayed through the mural’s intentional design as well as the opportunity for all students to contribute when they are in the center.

“To me having [a multicultural center] means having a space where I can exist,” said Mayte Rodriguez, intercultural lead student assistant at the Multicultural Center.

Rodriguez a part of a group of students and staff working to organize, design and create a new mural in the Multicultural Center.

Community members are gradually adding their own words and artwork to the wall near the center’s main entrance. Eventually, a group of student artists will paint windows in select areas currently covered by posters. According to Rodriguez, these windows represent the openness to opportunities for student success, a theme the MC is committed to.

Rodriguez explained that a physical mural, created collaboratively by community members, is a symbol of belonging and ownership for the students occupying the space. It is a place for everyone to see themselves represented.

“Murals are so beautiful because they are telling a significant story…that you wouldn’t be able to know from a book or class on diversity and inclusion,” she said. “Once you put your art out there, you are giving yourself a place to exist.”

Bruce Campbell, director of the Latino/Latin American Studies program, noted the importance of students having agency in the shaping of public culture in their communities, a process especially significant on college campuses.

“Space where we come together and enter into dialogue, see each other, hear each other, and respond to each other’s concerns… is often lacking,” Campbell said. “When we seek to address issues around inclusion, unless we’re doing it in a very public way, there is important [work] that we are not actually doing.”

He said that murals create a unique opportunity to do this in a very visible way.

“A mural is not just a finished work of visual art. There’s a process there; there’s a necessary piece where a community has to be engaged…For a work of public art, the public is going to have something to say about what’s there,” Campbell said.

Campbell has also worked on other mural projects on campus – those displayed on the Link buses. The Latino/Latin American Studies program annually hosts a series of public events centered around a theme. Students can receive academic credit for attending each of these events and participating in a reflective project afterwards. The first bus mural, created in Spring of 2017, was created as this project. The program has continued over the past few years, and the murals have become an important part of campus culture.

This year, the event series’ theme is “race and climate change.” In connection to that theme, and the Multicultural Center’s mission and current campus needs, the theme of “inclusivity and radical hospitality” was selected.

Art professor Rachel Melis, works with Campbell and students on these projects. She said that in the past, the Link bus murals have been symbolically placed there to represent the connections between students on campus, and mark the bus as a space where all students should be safe and welcomed.

However, she notes the excitement of working directly in the Multicultural Center especially since the mural’s message aligns so directly with the purpose of the space.

“[The Multicultural Center is] very intentionally geared toward ample room for students to dialogue and converse within it,” Melis said. “Not only is this [process] creating more of a community but I think there’s also… a sense of permanence and responsibility for the students working on it.”

According to the mural project leaders, it is especially important for the mural to reflect the experiences of students who have in the past and present been institutionally excluded on campus.

“Hospitality is for everyone who hasn’t typically felt represented at CSB/SJU to be included… I hope BIPOC students especially will feel seen in this mural,” Rodriguez said.

The leaders also worked with Malik Stewart, Director of Multicultural Student Services, during the design process to clearly define that the Multicultural Center was built for everyone, and everyone belongs at CSB/SJU. They credit Stewart’s trust and the administration’s support for the opportunity to do this project.

The professors said there was a tangible joy among the students when they first started to draw on the wall. They said students were excited about the physicality of the project and contributing something important to them. They were dancing, taking selfies and telling their friends to come participate.

Rodriguez chose to add the word “confianza,” which she says is used to define a mutual relationship of close trust and protection.

“Confianza is likely only used in a Hispanic/Latino household. It’s a little hard to explain in English because it is more than trust and reliance… it’s a show of radical hospitality, she said. “When you have confianza in someone, you are allowing them to believe in you… I think the Multicultural Center and this mural is literally a source of confianza for staff and students.”

According to Campbell and Melis, this sharing of joy and self-expression is a central part of “radical hospitality.” This theme draws from the Benedictine value of hospitality, but Campbell explained they are interpreting the word through a very active, justice-minded perspective.

“Practicing radical hospitality involves opening yourself and opening your community to all. It’s the opening it to all that makes it radical,” Campbell said.

Creating space for students to express themselves also encourages them to respond to what others add, while learning from that sharing process.

“Opening yourself up to all means… not simply saying ‘you all can come into my space and understand me.’ It’s saying ‘I’m going to open myself up to understand you,’” Melis said.

She referenced all the different perspectives already represented on the wall. Specifically, there are multiple languages written. She said that this is one example of how radical hospitality requires community members to be aware of their own limitations in understanding, embracing an openness to learn new things from others.

“Everyone will be changed by radical hospitality,” Melis said.