AACC hosted an art exhibit to celebrate black history month on Thursday.

The Office of Student Engagement partnered with the Black History Month Committee and the Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism Institute to organize the Blackness in Full Bloom event, an art gallery that is meant to showcase the “local talent” of black artists, according to Black History Month Committee Coordinator Stephanie Smith-Baker.

“Every year we just really try to get better and really bring events and activities that can educate, insight and just get the college community involved,” Smith-Baker said.

According to communications professor and exhibit curator April Copes, “a bunch” of the art displayed at the exhibit came from an art museum at Morgan State University.

“We look for artists whose work we thought resonated with [the Blackness in Full Bloom] theme,” Copes said.

According to Smith-Baker, the theme can be interpreted in multiple different ways.

“Full bloom could mean … flowers,” Smith-Baker said. “[But] it could also mean the person’s process and their maturity, so things like that.”

Graig Bracey, an AACC alumnus who submitted art for the event, fit his artwork into the theme by submitting pieces that were meant to show “something overgrown inside.”

“I kind of wanted to create something that looked kind of transformative,” Bracey said. “Something kind of … like an intense inwardness if that makes sense.”

Chef Donnisha Grant, HCAT director, said the event is “putting excellence forward.”

Jayeim Blake, a first-year international student, said he’s “not really an art person” but would “love” to see more events like this.

“Just see people coming together … that’s what I’m here for,” Blake said.