For such a small town, Ithaca is home to a surprisingly rich and dynamic arts scene, a fact showcased each month through the Ithaca Gallery Night, a self-guided art crawl held on the first Friday of the month. On Ithaca Gallery Night, participating venues throughout The Commons open their doors to Ithaca natives, students and visitors alike to explore a vibrant mix of exhibitions. Attendees can enjoy a wide range of visual arts, including sculptures, paintings, ceramics, fiber art and live performances from 5 to 8 p.m. Whether you’re a seasoned artist looking for inspiration or simply a stressed student looking for a way to unwind, Ithaca Gallery Night offers a unique opportunity to explore downtown Ithaca while connecting with local and regional artists.
Up to 20 venues regularly participate to create a truly unforgettable experience. Some of this month’s gems include Village Hair’s photo exhibition, “Beloved Community”, which highlights the strength and joy of Black hair braiders and barbers and their students. Village Hair and The Village at Ithaca facilitate Brown Babes Braiding, a teaching salon that provides a supportive, affirming environment for Ithacan youth to work towards earning their New York State Natural Hair Care Licenses. This show is bursting at its seams with the raw love and tenderness it shows towards the community.
Meanwhile, just down the block, Star Tree Studio showcases the work of guest-artist Julian Plum, a queer gouache illustrator from the Finger Lakes region. Plum’s illustrations of local flora, fauna and fungi seem to have come straight from a children’s fantasy storybook — the color and warmth radiating off them feels like home.
And for those willing to walk a little bit more, the Ink Shop Printmaking Center is worth stopping by this month as they proudly present the work of student printmakers from Cornell and Ithaca College in the exhibition, “I See You.” This exhibit gives a glimpse into the experimental and emotional worlds of emerging artists as they master printmaking techniques like intaglio and relief.
However, the crown jewel of this month’s Ithaca Gallery Night must be the exhibit sponsored by the Community Arts Partnership inside the Tompkins Center for History and Culture. CAP’s community Artspace spotlights a different local artist each month for the Ithaca Gallery Night, and this month features L.A. Amira, a visual artist whose paintings explore her identity as an African American Muslim. L.A. Amira’s exhibition, entitled “Threads That Bind,” utilizes vibrant hues, intricate African patterns, and 3D media to weave together a vulnerably honest story of the resilience and emotional labor women of color endure as they navigate a modern media landscape that silences their voices.
As a woman of color myself, I found myself lingering the longest in front of L.A. Amira’s “Visions of the Self Through the TV.” This painting depicts a solitary young Black woman, her gaze resigned and face artificially neutral, who clings to a TV that displaces a distorted, fragmented image of another Black woman. There is a quiet desperation evident in this piece, as the young woman grows tired of searching for any small representation of herself within a digital landscape determined to erase her. A deep yearning for belonging and affirmation haunts this piece, and I can’t help but find myself within it. Growing up as queer Latina in a small, rural town, I constantly found myself wishing I could just scream at the world: Look at me, look at me. I long for a world where my existence is not seen as some form of resistance against some arbitrary status quo. I, Iike L.A. Amira, long for a world where my existence is seen and represented with sincere dignity and acknowledgment of all my complexities — because the color of my skin should not make me an afterthought. It’s in front of this portrait that a part of myself heals.
The raw connection I felt with L.A. Amira was truly something I have never found within a lecture hall or textbook. Within the bustle of college life, the sleepless nights and endless deadlines, I often forget the effect art can have on me, the way it exposes the failure of language. So, if you have a free hour between prelims and papers, I highly recommend you take the 30 down to the Commons, step into a gallery or two, and take a moment to appreciate how fortunate we are to be surrounded by such authentic art. And who knows, you might just leave with a deeper understanding of yourself.
Leslie Monter-Casio is a freshman in the College of Engineering. They can be reached at lm953@cornell.edu.
