On the third floor of the Joe Crowley Student Union, Colin Kaepernick’s face can now be seen through The Multicultural Center’s glass walls. Soon it will include the quote by the former star Wolf Pack and NFL quarterback turned civil activist and 2017 GQ Citizen of the Year: “Trust Your Power.”
“You get a lot of resistance when speaking about your truth,” Joshua Chang, the UNR alumnus behind the mural project explained, as to how this quote is so impactful. “It’s almost like people want you to second guess what you’ve been struggling through.”
A student painted on an extra fist during The Multicultural Center’s recent community paint day. Photo taken by Joshua Chang with permission to use.
Chang hopes that the mural will be a reminder to others. “Trust what you can do as an individual,” he said.
“We’ve seen in history what one person can do,” Chang said, referencing Kaepernick who in the 2016 NFL preseason sat during the playing of the U.S. national anthem, rather than stand, to protest against police brutality, racial injustice, and oppression. The following week, and throughout the regular season, with millions watching on television, Kaepernick kneeled.
Chang’s work often focuses on inspiring and empowering others. He also feels the need to step up as an artist. In 2017, Chang and other students painted murals over swastikas that had defaced the Church of Fine Arts’ graffiti stairwell.
“That was kind of our call to action,” Chang remembers.
Joshua Chang stands in front of the then unfinished mural. Photo taken by Lynn Lazaro
“A lot of people in my life speak a lot through their actions,” Chang said. For him, if he isn’t following that example, he is being a silent bystander. “This [art] is my best form of activism.”
Throughout Chang’s high school career, he worked on murals with his brother. As a student of the Las Vegas Academy of Arts, Chang and his brother also painted murals for free for churches in San Diego and Reno.
“He’s the one who really got me started,” Chang said, referring to his brother. It was their way of connecting, and it was how his love for art began.
Upon entering UNR however, Chang chose to pursue engineering instead of continuing his education in art.
“I thought I could do it,” Chang said about his change in focus. “But I ended up just really missing [art].” Despite his yearning, Chang continued his education in engineering, and graduated earlier this year.
After graduating, Chang decided it was time to continue pursuing his artistic and activist passion.
Including the Kaepernick mural, Chang was involved in Kappa Phi Lambda’s art exhibition that celebrated Pan-Asian roots. After his work with The Multicultural Center is done, he hopes to work with an organization partnered with Black Wall Street Reno.
“You have to know your past to know where you’re going,” he said reflecting Kaepernick’s example.