Award-winning student artwork celebrates radical hope, resistance for Social Work Month
Two VCU School of Social Work B.S.W. students were honored for artwork they created for a competition to celebrate Social Work Month in March with the theme of Art as Radical Hope and Resistance.
The winners, Jae Lange and CaL Luck, received prizes in acknowledgment of their time and creative efforts for this project. The school appreciates their inspiring artistic visions in celebration of social justice and hope for Social Work Month.
1st Place: Collapsing Privilege
By Jae Lange
Artist’s design statement:
I created Collapsing Privilege from the tension of growing up biracial in Richmond, Virginia; a city built on monuments, mapped by redlining, and shaped by both erasure and resistance. In Richmond, power is visible. It is carved into stone. It is zoned into neighborhoods. It is defended as history.
This piece challenges the idea that privilege is neutral or permanent. It isn’t. It is constructed; through policy, geography, and silence.
The fist in this work is not raised in celebration. It is squeezing. Crushing. Applying pressure to the word “Privileged.” It represents disruption; the moment when systems built to elevate some at the expense of others are no longer passively accepted.
The maps embedded within the form reference the policies that determined who had access to land, safety, wealth, and stability. The fractured pedestal and vertical split signal strain; not fragility, but force meeting structure.
As someone who has lived between identities and within systems that both protect and exclude, I understand that privilege does not collapse on its own. It is confronted. It is organized against. It is dismantled collectively.
Collapsing Privilege is not about destruction for destruction’s sake. It is about transformation.
When pressure is applied, structures shift. When systems crack, communities rebuild.
This piece is rooted in that belief.
Medium used: digital illustration
Jae’s reflections
This piece is incredibly personal to me. Being born and raised in Richmond, navigating life as someone who is mixed, and experiencing the complexities of racism firsthand from family has deeply shaped my perspective.
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found myself reflecting more on how my own experiences connect to Richmond’s history. It’s actually inspired me to start writing a book exploring those intersections; no timeline on when it’ll be finished, but it’s something I care deeply about.
2nd Place: Grow Anyway
By CaL Luck
Artist’s design statement:
Dandelions have been classified as weeds despite having many uses and, they support wildlife, the soil, and have lots of benefits for humans as well, both functional and for fun! There are lots of people who don’t like dandelions and try to remove them and stop them from spreading. They grow anyway, what’s more radical than that?
Medium used: digital illustration
CaL’s reflections
I was struggling to find a way to represent the concept without relying heavily on words, and a lot of the concepts I had were very ambitious. I thought about it for a while before thinking about the dandelion concept, and I wanted to add some other subtle forms of resistance, such as the flag and poster on the window in the background.
“I played around with the saturation of the entire piece after getting some tips from my friends who are art students who suggested in order to make the flower more of the main subject, it would have to be brighter than everything else. I also wanted the text to be in my own handwriting, because that’s something I am a little self-conscious about, and using it anyways fit with the theme.