A unique cross-cultural story is on display at the Curfman Gallery in the Lory Student Center through Sept. 4.
Beyond Color: A Life Journey Using Art to Transcend Culture tells the remarkable story of Fauna Hodel, a woman who was born Caucasian but grew up believing she was black. The exhibit, which is open Tuesday through Sunday, noon-5 p.m., in the gallery on the first floor of the LSC, has as many facets as the life of Hodel herself.
“Beyond Color is a multimedia journey through the maze of a life with unimaginable twists and turns and unbelievable characters, with the goal of delivering a message of love and understanding that transcends race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, time and geography,” said Doug Sink, manager of arts programs for Lory Student Center. “It intends to immerse visitors in Fauna’s experiences using the many artistic links in her life: cinema, fashion, music, writing, architecture, sculpture, photography and film.”
Hodel wrote her autobiography, One Day She’ll Darken, in 2009. In it, she told of her amazing cross-cultural journey from her birth to the daughter of a noted Hollywood surgeon who was part of one of the most notorious murder mysteries of the 1940s to her upbringing by a black couple in Reno during the segregation of the 1950s. She never knew her biological parents were both white until she was in her early 20s.
Fauna Hodel will be on campus for a reception and book signing at the Curfman Gallery on Sept. 1, 5-7 p.m. She will return to campus at the end of the month as a speaker during the annual Diversity Symposium, Sept. 23-25.
Beyond Color is sponsored by CSU’s Department of Journalism and Media Communications, Culturs Club and the Curfman Gallery. The exhibit was developed by Culutrs.guru Global Multicultural Magazine, an online publication devoted to uncovering hidden diversity as well as the nuances of cultural communication in the 21st century.
For more information, email info@culturs.guru
