At University of Illinois at Chicago‘s Campus Programs’ Think Pink! Breast Cancer Awareness night, UIC students, along with the Collegiate Panhellenic Council teamed with UIC’s art gallery, Gallery 400, in an effort to stimulate breast cancer awareness by creating a hand decorated flag of pink ribbons.
As a part of breast cancer awareness month, the Think Pink! event was held on Oct. 24 in an effort to engage UIC students in the support of a current and important cause.
The event began with a blank canvas, a set of pink ribbons and a group of eager UIC students gathered to support a cause. After a brief information session, each group of students took a ribbon (or multiple ribbons) and decorated it with a supportive message.
Once finished, each ribbon was placed on canvas, forming a collaborative pink flag of support.
“I think it turned out really well,” said Gallery 400 intern Tracey Morrison. “I was surprised how excited these students were to add to the flag. We all thought it was pretty cool.”
The flag was designed to fly on Gallery 400’s Temporary Allegiance flagpole, an ongoing art installation by Philip von Zweck at Gallery 400, which hangs a new flag each week in as a statement of free expression through a typically state enforced platform.
The flagpole is positioned just south of Peoria and Van Buren, right next to the highway by Gallery 400.
“I thought it would be a good idea to use Temporary Allegiance as a way for the UIC students to support breast cancer in a public setting, and have the flag actually fly over the highway. It’s also sort of a souvenir from the event,” Morrison said.
The flag hung on Temporary Allegiance from Oct. 29 – Nov. 2, and Gallery 400 plans to keep the flag as a memento from Think Pink! in case any students wish to view it again, and Gallery 400 encourages UIC organizations to create more flags in the future.
