About the Double Diversity Digital Art Gallery

Velta Brenya (she/her) created the Double Diversity Digital Art Gallery to highlight the experiences of Black, neurodiverse college students. As a Black, neurodiverse student at the University of Texas at Austin with a passion for mental health, Velta understands the adversities and joys of building support systems and the importance of destigmatizing conversations around seeking mental health care. She particularly wanted to express the experiences of other Black, neurodiverse college students through one of her own support systems, art.  

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To gather participants for the gallery, flyers containing a QR code to the project’s eligibility survey were posted around the University of Texas at Austin as well as sent to Black student organizations, professors in the psychology department, the African American Mental Health and Wellness Program (AMEN), and the African American Behavioral Network to be included in newsletters or otherwise shared. The project gathered a total of five participants who identify as Black and neurodiverse.

 

Each participant was interviewed for two hours through Zoom. The first half of the interviews were dedicated to questions about the participants’ experiences with adversity, emotional support, and how neurodiversity adds to their lives, while the second half focused on artistic elements of the project, such as what medium and content they wanted their experiences to be portrayed in. The interviews were transcribed, and the participants selected meaningful quotes from them that captured their experience to be included and displayed as part of the gallery. To thank the participants for their time, knowledge, and willingness to share their experiences with a larger audience, each participant received compensation for their time and received a physical copy of their art piece. 

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The Double Diversity Digital Art Gallery would not have been possible without the Mellon Engaged Scholars Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin, Jesi Egan, Dr. Charles Holahan, Dr. Alison Kafer, Jacklyn Hecht, Vicky Coffee, Nick Susa, Thu Hoang, and its participants. 

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Thank you for supporting the Double Diversity Digital Art Gallery!