Call for Art for "Rich with Love - A Decade of Remembrance"
In honor of the 10-year anniversary of the murder of 1st Lt. Richard W. Collins III, the Bowie State University-University of Maryland Social Justice Alliance invites students, artists, faculty, staff, and community members to submit original artwork for a commemorative, community centered exhibition at the STAMP Gallery.
This call seeks to honor Lt. Collins’ life, legacy, and humanity while creating space for collective reflection on love, loss, justice, belonging, and remembrance. Too often, acts of racial violence reduce individuals to headlines, statistics, or symbols. This exhibition asks artists to resist that erasure by centering the fullness of life, memory, and connection.
Rich with Love is both a remembrance and an invitation, an interrogation of how we bear witness to violence without allowing it to define the lives taken, and how art can function as a tool for healing, truth-telling, and social transformation. Artists are encouraged to explore themes including, but not limited to: dignity, grief, legacy, racial violence, community care, resilience, military service, Black humanity, racial justice, Americanness and the work of remembrance.
Submissions may reflect personal connections to Lt. Collins’ story, broader reflections on anti-Black racism and racialized violence, or imaginative interpretations of what it means to honor life in the face of injustice. Works may be literal or abstract, intimate or communal, historical or forward-looking.
A jury of representatives from the University of Maryland and Bowie State University communities will select three artworks to receive a cash award: $500 for first place, $350 for second place, and $200 for third.
All artistic forms will be considered, including but not limited to:
- Painting and drawing, mixed media
- Sculpture and installation
- Photography and digital media
- Film and video
- Poetry, spoken word, and written work
- Music and sound
- Dance, theater, and other performing arts
Deadline for Submissions: May 25, 2026
Notification for Acceptances: June 19, 2026
Exhibition Dates: October - December 2026
Submit at this form. Direct any questions to stampgallery@umd.edu