Center For Gender Equity’s Hosts Human Body Canvas Event
Driving off the momentum of “Love Your Body Week,” the Center for Gender Equity (CGE) will host their annual Human Body Canvas event. This event runs February 24 and will be located at Cawein Gallery in Pacific Hall.
In this event, Pacific students who are participating will be split into two groups. First, there are the artists who will paint and create the canvases. Then, there are the canvases—students who will quite literally use their bodies as the canvas. They will undress as much as they are comfortable so that the artists can paint the canvases that they have in their minds.
“It is definitely a safe space for people to be nude and also when you let anyone be a canvas, it’s not ‘you have to be a certain shape or size.’ Anyone and all are welcome,” says Delaney Nigma, CGE’s Marketing Coordinator and event organizer. By making this event a safe space for people to be nude, Nigma explains, it inspires comfort and confidence in those involved. By encouraging all body types to participate, it also inspires confidence in the participants knowing they aren’t being judged on how their bodies look. The whole point of this event is for it to act as a fun and empowering experience for painters and “canvases” alike.
This year’s theme is “Mind, Body, and Spirit.” Nigma said the CGE chose this theme because the Human Body Canvas event represents more than just the physical act of painting bodies: “Not only does this event emphasize the body, but also the mind, and the confidence, and the strength of the canvases, and the creativity of the artists, and also the spirit of this event in that it is a welcoming space and everyone should feel free to be as comfortable as they can.”
Nigma added that the theme of “Mind, Body, and Spirit” is quite broad, allowing the artists to let their creative imaginations come to life when they create their canvases.
For those who want to view the completed human canvases, the gallery will open from 7 – 8 p.m. on February 24. Participants will arrive around 3 p.m. for set-up. Whether watching or participating, note that this event is strictly Pacific University students only.
For those who are interested in participating, Nigma and the CGE are still looking for more artists and canvases. If you want to be a part of the Human Body Canvas, details can be found on the Pacific University events calendar, or by emailing thecenterforgenderequity@pacificu.edu. — Kaleb Makimoto
Leave a Reply