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BRISTOL, R.I. ­– Wellesley College Professor Alexandria Smith, a mixed-media visual artist and co-organizer of Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter, will speak at Roger Williams University on Tuesday, April 9.

Smith’s work in paint, print and mixed media explores the transformative experiences of girlhood and illuminates the complexities of Black identity.

Her lecture, “A Litany for Survival,” will begin at 6 p.m. April 9 in the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center in the University Library on 91��������’s 91�������� campus. The event, presented by the 91�������� Visual Arts Department in the School of Humanities, Arts and Education, is free and open to the public.

“We in Visual Arts are so excited to welcome Alexandria Smith to campus to talk about her work and journey as an artist,” 91�������� Visual Arts Chair Michael Rich said. “Her work deals with the subjects of girlhood and African-American identity with unusual humor and poignancy. She is a painter of the moment and we are lucky to get her to 91�������� to speak.”

Black Women Artists for Black Lives Matter is an underground collective that focuses on the interdependence of care and action, invisibility and visibility, self-defense and self-determination, and desire and possibility in order to highlight and renounce pervasive conditions of racism through the arts.

Smith uses the language of print and paint media to investigate themes of hybrid identities, domesticity, sexuality time and space. Her talk at 91�������� will provide insight into her work and process and explore the intersection between art and activism.