LSUS students showcase personal art, literary works in ‘Resilience Through Dark Times’ exhibit

LSUS students showcase personal art, literary works in 'Resilience Through Dark Times' exhibit

SHREVEPORT - "After the storm is when the flowers bloom."

Those were the words at the center of an art piece depicting a raging storm with a flower poking out of the ground in the sunlight afterward.

It's emblematic of the entire Resilience Through Dark Times exhibit, which showcased art and literary works in various forms centered around how LSUS students have overcome challenging life circumstances.

Nearly 40 submissions were on display at the exhibit's opening Wednesday on the third floor of the Noel Memorial Library. The exhibit will be featured on the first floor of the library for the next month.

"All the submissions were really impactful not only because of the subject matter but because of the many different ways that were used to express it," said Kendal Redel, the director of Counseling Services at LSUS whose department organized the event. "The whole point is for students to process and reflect on a challenging time in a way that felt right to them.

"This is also an avenue for students to know that mental health is something that we really value here."

Loss was a prevalent theme.

A mother wrote a poem about the loss of a baby.

Another mother wrote about the difficulties of beginning college with a 10-month-old baby while expecting another in the coming months.

But by the end of "You Have To See It Through," the 21-year-old first generation college student writes about how her children are her "driving force" to walk across the graduation stage and to break the abusive family cycle in which she grew up.

While the student laments the loss of the relatively carefree college experience the typical student enjoys, she understands the importance and significance of preparing her next generation for a life with less struggle.

But not all loss was negative.

Another student describes abuse by her father while her mother pretended nothing was happening.

The student came to the realization that separation from her nuclear family, "building the wall," afforded her a freedom that she otherwise wouldn't experience.

Other artwork featured nature prominently, from an abstract person taking measured steps through a cherry blossom grove to a person in the midst of depression stopping to smell sunflowers.

One showcased a heroine with a sword fording a river where one bank represented heartbreak and despair with the other bank encompassing light and happiness.

The exhibit displayed various art produced at impromptu expression sessions where her crew supplied materials for students to create.

Outside of the creative outlet, Redel and her LSUS Counseling Services team hopes the exhibit serves as a conversation starter for students to talk and learn about mental health.

"The goal of the exhibit is to make students feel connected and to help them use their creativity as an outlet for managing their mental health," Redel said. "The exhibit creates a space for students to connect over a shared experience and a shared means of coping through creativity.

"This does communicate belonging, whether in the physical exhibit or the shared experience online. You can appreciate other people's vulnerabilities."

All works are displayed anonymously.