Right now most Pepperdine students are probably starting to imagine the seconds after their last final exam is over for the semester. Will they be boarding an airplane jetting off to various study abroad destinations? Or maybe enjoying a week of rest and relaxation by the beach before summer school starts?
The International Justice Mission is challenging students to imagine something else in the closing weeks of the spring 2010 semester.
They are asking them to imagine change.
IJM an on campus club dedicated to raising awareness about issues of injustice around the world has been working together with Pepperdine art students to put on an art show titled “Imagine Change.”
The show which was held Friday in Adamson Plaza featured numerous pieces representing positive changes that members hope to eventually see in our world.
“I want to see students thinking outside the social norm and expressing their ideas and opinions freely said IJM member and artist Lynn Pham. This event gives them a blank slate so they can work toward putting their specific goals into action.”
The event also included free food and live music but the most popular attraction of the night seemed to be an interactive mural where guests could paint their hand prints and write about changes that they would like to see.
“I like the metaphor of ‘getting our hands dirty’ and coming together to take a stand against injustice said freshman Janet Kim. Making the mural was a really creative way to get the campus involved with the club’s mission.”
Coordinators of the event explained the underlying meaning of the mural and what it represented to the club as a whole.
“A big part of making change happen is getting people to take a small step or make even a small change to eventually get to where you want to go said event coordinator Jazz Brice. Using each individual hand print to ultimately create a beautiful vision is definitely a metaphor of what IJM is all about.”
More than 15 club members and artists have been working throughout the semester to put this event together for their peers and their only goal— to get other people passionate about their cause.
“We really just hope to give people a chance to reflect on themselves enjoy food and music talk to other people and envision a better tomorrow Brice said. Hopefully our passion and enthusiasm for IJM will come through to other students and inspire them to fight with us.”