As the UWF 2021 Common Read, Claudia Rankine’s award-winning, genre-defying Citizen: An American Lyric, created a safe space for students to engage with issues of race during a time of national reckoning with racism. Woven into classes in English, Art, and Honors, Citizen engaged students with the banal, daily experience of racism in this country, those so-called “micro-aggressions” that are, in fact, expressions of larger social and historical narratives.

As a collage of poetry, prose, and visual art, Citizen invites exploration into the creative potential of different media and the ways that they speak to one another. This exhibition represents a collection of student work across disciplines based on their engagement with Citizen. Taken together, it mirrors the hybrid forms of Rankine’s work and gives us a snapshot into the robust creative and critical energies we will need to confront the insistent, everyday injustices of our times.

The exhibition continues online. Visit the exhibition website to view more artwork and listen to audio recordings of students reading their written responses to Citizen.

Exhibiting Students:

Lucas Alderfer
Patrick Bailey
Jason Dorler
Rachel Gibbs
Allyanna Haddock
Emalee Hudson
Allison Johnson
Rebekah Lee
Grace McIntyre-Willis
Nicole Morse
Nickolas Newkirk
Jordan Weddington
Alyssa Zaleske

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