Resilience Through Art: Black Legacies at UMD

The University of Maryland Art Gallery is pleased to partner with UMD student Kamryn Hoag to present Resilience Through Art: Black Legacies at UMD, a two-pronged project which involves the commissioning of a new performance by UMD alumnx Miss Toto and a portable mural by Hunter Jones. 

About Miss Toto 

Miss Toto is a Chicago-based drag artist and University of Maryland alumnx who combines bodybuilding and feminine glamour to produce groundbreaking vibrant and gender-non-conforming looks. For Resilience Through Art, Miss Toto created a video performance that is a lip-sync rendition of Beyoncé’s Find Your Way Back (2019), in which she travels across the country by car to "find her way back" to her parent's home in Maryland. 

About the mural

The mural Black Legacies at UMD by visual artist Hunter Jones celebrates Black members of the UMD community through their likenesses and stories - Jones informs the piece with her own experiences as a Black, queer femme alumnx of the university. The piece consists of four detachable and rearrangeable 4 x 5 ft. wood panels with portraits of Black UMD alumni and former faculty: Elaine J. Coates, David Driskell, Rock “Miss Toto” Evans, and N.K Jemisin, each posed in front of a whimsical background with the university's colors. 

This project is supported by a Maryland Summer Scholars Award, an Honors College Research Grant, and a Vital Signs mini-grant. Additional support is provided by the University of Maryland Art Gallery.

Zoom Link: https://umd.zoom.us/j/8147571595?pwd=YlFjR2J3RERSc3pDNy9uNVBHZld3Zz09