The fourth annual Richmond Virginia Black Lives Matter Art Show is on view virtually for the next year, featuring pieces from an accomplished artist who is also a staff member at UR.

When Director of User Services Scott Tilghman isn’t working in Information Services, where he’s been on staff since 1998, he focuses on his mosaic-style paintings. Two of his recent pieces were chosen for the show, which features more than 80 artists and 130 works.

Tilghman traditionally paints florals or landscape abstracts, but said he’s been encouraged recently to paint statement pieces, inspired in part by the weekly Intersections meetings that Keith “Mac” McIntosh, vice president for information services and CIO, started in 2017. Conversations that began in the IS division grew to include the entire University.

“When this show came up, I could hear Mac’s voice say, ‘Get into the conversation and be a part of it,’” Tilghman said. “Everyone has a voice and everyone should be heard. Without those meetings every Wednesday … those discussions on race …. I might not have thought what I had to add to the discussion would be relevant. But I support the movement.”

Tilghman’s piece titled “La monde regarde” (The world is watching) is about the 2020 election and the importance of the Black vote, featuring the Statue of Liberty as a Black woman. It is included in the “Inspiration & Aspiration” category of the exhibition. His other piece is titled “Dites leurs noms” (Say their names) and was inspired by his trip to the Robert E. Lee monument on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.

Tilghman’s mosaic-style paintings show colors separated by the plain white canvas.

“During this time of division and search for inclusion, it highlights how we are not all together but how close we are,” he said.

Related:

• See Scott Tilghman's art in the exhibit.