Event Overview
This event is featuring work of the Honors College Scholar, Jocelynn Hunter Dow, Class of 2025.
Artist's Statement
Allegory of Curiosity, Knowledge, and Purpose
Acrylic, oil pastel, and molding paste on canvas, 48” × 60”
Allegory of Curiosity, Knowledge, and Purpose excavates beauty from the ugliness of a world that too often reserves humanity for a select few. Created in response to acts of anti-Black vandalism that left many students feeling unseen and unsafe, this work transforms collective hurt into a testament of resilience and belonging. While one painting cannot undo systemic harm, it affirms that Black students have always belonged within the Honors College, at Rutgers University, and in every space imaginable. This should not be controversial.
Rooted in the Honors College motto of Curiosity, Knowledge, and Purpose, the painting envisions these ideals through the lens of Black womanhood. The young women within the work inhabit a world where they are liberated simply through being, not challenged for their Blackness, womanhood, or Black womanhood. There is no fixed time period; past, present, and future converge in a reality grounded in ancestral pride, reflecting both who we are and who we might become. Here, they peacefully pursue their curiosities, expand their knowledge, and live in their purpose, free from competition or constraint.
Drawing inspiration from classical European allegories, the work reimagines that tradition through an Afrocentric lens. Three Black women embody the Honors College’s three pillars. Curiosity, crowned with flowers and painted in the most vibrant hues, represents the spark of all intellectual pursuit. Each figure’s garment bears Adinkra symbols: ananse ntentan and nea onnim on Curiosity’s dress celebrate wisdom found in questioning; denkyem and bese saka on Knowledge’s, honor adaptability and unity in learning; and nkyinkyim and boafo ye na on Purpose’s reflect life’s journey and service to others.
A cherub wearing a Gabonese-inspired mask bridges the spiritual and earthly realms. A wreath symbolizes the enduring legacy of Black students’ triumph over invisibility. A clay harvest basket grounds abundance in ancestral strength rather than European mythology. A globe marked with Africa’s coordinates acknowledges diasporic origins while inviting discovery, and Cameroonian-inspired pottery connects us to the earth and spiritual traditions as sacred vessels for divine force.
This painting asserts that Black students at Rutgers University are not guests in academia but its rightful inheritors as creators, thinkers, and visionaries shaping its future. It does not seek validation but recognition: that in honoring Curiosity, Knowledge, and Purpose through an Afrocentric lens, we affirm the brilliance that has always existed within us.
Painting Location
Honors College Office Suite, East Wing
Event Registration
By Invitation Only.