 "Photo: Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute.")
 "Photo: Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute")
Resistance is necessary. It is the source of human discourse and many times the sole supplier of truth. "Let Your Motto be Resistance," a photography exhibit at the N.C. Central University Art Museum, features iconic images of African American resistance leaders.
On Nov. 10, a collaborative art event connected to the exhibit and spearheaded by NCCU and Duke University students — playfully titled "Double Exposure" — showcased the resistance exhibit.
"Double Exposure" also featured the African diaspora exhibit showing at the Nasher Museum of Art, "Becoming: Photographs from the Wedge Collection."
Student jazz musicians from both schools performed at each museum.
The event offered a free shuttle service between campuses, as well as spoken word performances and a scavenger hunt. "This is something we do not only for students but for the larger Durham community," said Reshma Kalimi, co-chair of the Duke Student Advisory Board.
"One of the things that we are trying to get across is that these are international-level exhibitions that you get to see at your own campus for free, with a nice dinner and music and entertainment," said Kalimi.
NCCU junior and art club president Quintin Neal worked with the Duke students to organize "Double Exposure."
He plans to structure a similar student advisory board at NCCU. "This is the first time we have done something like this since I've been here," said Neal.
"It's really exciting. For the first trial this has been an amazing event." The "Double Exposure" festivities served to spotlight the vast photographic array of "Let Your Motto be Resistance."
The exhibit includes an image of Malcolm X selling copies of the Nation of Islam newspaper "Muhammad Speaks." In another image Joe Louis whirls his fists, steeling himself for a boxing match.
Uplifting portraits of artists and musicians such as Harry Belafonte, Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong and others are contrasted with a gut-wrenching image of Martin Luther King's funeral service.
"Martin Luther King in his casket, and his children looking over," said NCCU English education freshman Glynnis Hagins.
"It just — it hurt. It was a sad moment. You could see in the children's faces that they were saying, ‘that's my daddy in there.'" NCCU art education freshman Deidra Hunter offered her interpretation of the exhibit.
"It shows how the past is connected to the present, in a way you see all these accomplishments and you see how we are still moving forward," said Hunter.
"Becoming: Photographs from the Wedge Collection" shows at the Nasher Museum of Art until Jan. 8. "Let Your Motto be Resistance" is on display at the NCCU Art Museum until Jan. 15.
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