By Riley Harker, Contributing writer
Photo by Abby Macmillan
“Terms of Service,” a new art exhibition celebrating black women and co-curated by the members of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority, opened at the Lore Degenstein Gallery with a reception Saturday, Sept. 3 at 7 p.m.
Susquehanna’s chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho worked on this project to celebrate Sigma Gamma Rho’s 100-year anniversary this fall and the 15-year anniversary of the Rho Theta chapter at Susquehanna. The goal of the curatorial project was to highlight the organizations motto of “Greater Service, Greater Progress,” through the work of black female artists.
Jurnee Coker, President of Sigma Gamma Rho said, “Our main mantra is ‘Sisterhood, Scholarship, and Service’ and we are very service based so everyone who has put art into this project is connected to some type of service… It just helps show that we are connected to service, and we want to help the community but also, we want to navigate ourselves and the world where sometimes we’re not accepted, but our service will always be accepted by the community around us.”
The gallery contains artwork by local and regional artists who align with the beliefs of Sigma Gamma Rho and who hold values such as advancing equity, empathy and social justice in the forms of creative and service-based work. The artists featured in the gallery include Vanessa German, Jessica Moss, Alisha Wormsley, Naomi Chambers, and Kelli Williams.
“I feel like black women are usually thrown under the rug and things we do are always overlooked so the gallery really showcases things we’ve done in history and current that is going to live on for generations to come,” said Vice President Dasha Brown.
Twenty-minute tours of the gallery will be led by art history and museum studies majors and minors on Tuesday Sept. 27, Thursday Sept. 29, Tuesday Oct. 4, and Thursday Oct. 6 at 12 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the public from Sept. 3 until Oct. 23.
