UW Formation, a group that began last year, has attempted to improve the visibility of black women at a predominantly white institution through a video and photography project that focuses on positivity.
"The purpose of it is to highlight and prioritize the existence of black women on our campus and to create a space for them to be showcased," said UW-Madison junior Gabrielle Tielman-Fenelus, who helped start the group. "A lot of times they are either forgotten or overlooked."
The group has roughly 30 members in the community, and UW-Madison student and member of UW Formation Alexandra Adams said the group intentionally represents the diversity found within the community of black women on campus.
"It was a personal mission, I suppose, to gather not just certain aspects of blackness,” Adams said. “They wanted to recruit women who were all different sizes, all different skin tones because there is not just one black. We're not a monolith."
Tielman-Fenelus and fellow student Kay-Jah Charles started the group last spring after Beyonce's song “Formation.”
"It's wonderful when prominent black artists release music, because, here on campus, we all talk about it,” Adams said. “That kind of creates and builds community in that way too."
Now, Tielman-Fenelus is trying to plan how to best grow UW Formation, and she said she is deciding if they want to become a registered student organization
Tielman-Fenelus said she has also been working with UW-Madison’s admissions office to possibly show the upcoming video to black women in local high schools to encourage them to pursue higher education and to let them know there are people in college like them, which was a struggle for her when she arrived to Madison.
She said it seemed like a lot of her classmates did not interact with a person of color before arriving to college, and that microaggressions are real and common.
"It just felt like nowhere I went I belonged,” Tielman-Fenelus said. “I've never had a problem being the only black person in a class, but here it was like all eyes on me."'
The planned video hopes to showcase around 30 student participants. Tielman-Fenelus said she’s hoping to shoot the video either at the end of this semester or the beginning of next. The group was approved for a grant of roughly $4,600, which will help pay for equipment, costumes, sets and food for the women, according to Tielman-Fenelus.
The video is going to include particular scenes to showcase black women on campus, and Tielman-Fenelus said she hopes to have one of the scenes at Camp Randall with the girls dressed in cheerleader outfits.
"It's to say that we also have school spirit because a lot of people think that we don't,” Tielman-Fenelus said. “We want to show that we have school spirit, that we are cheering for the rest of our community and we hope that they cheer back."
Adams said she had a difficult semester when she first arrived at UW-Madison. She found herself isolated frequently as a freshman on campus. Adams, who said she is a sexual assault survivor, continues to advocate for herself and tell her story in hopes of helping other people through their difficult experiences.
This mirrors UW Formation’s mission, which Adams said is to be present and visible so other students can find community in them.
"The main goal of UW Formation is to reach out to future black women Badgers and say, 'It's OK, you can find love and support here.'"
