When scanning the floors of the Multi-Cultural Center on March 24, students may spot a missing piece of their identities.

If not inside an abstract photo or the shred of a magazine, they my find their inner voice through free-writing.

Social activist and artist, Lorelei Rose Bingamon will lead this self-realization workshop which will offer the Sacramento State community a place to recollect themselves at “HeARTwork”, her interactive art workshop.A couple hours in a session with Bingamon will provide students with self-expression, self-discovery and a chance to tune into the needs of their personal selves, said Jessica Castellon, social justice major and art intern at the Multi-Cultural Center.”We’re going to hopefully give students a space to be able to create an art piece using their artistic talents and give them time to think about who they are,” Castellon said.Bingamon will also feature Seena Frost’s therapeutic art from &- “SoulCollage.””Students will get a chance to create a collage that speaks to them or expresses something inside of them,” Bingamon said. “Collaging is just mixed media &- or taking different things and putting them together to create something new … In general, you can take anything from sound, objects, photographs and piece them together to create a whole new image.”That final piece may give a voice to feelings that may have been silenced inside of each of them before, Bingamon said.

She said the workshop is a place for intuitive reflections as well as community empowerment.”I spread out images like on the floor – hundreds of them that I find. I ask them to look around the room to see if there’s any image that just jumps out at them,” Bingamon said. “With intuition, it’s just a feeling. Maybe they do know why an image is jumping out at them or maybe they don’t … This is when writing comes in handy.”Bingamon said while most of her work utilizes imagery, poetry and soul-collaging are two art forms she enjoys mixing in as well. “I really do gravitate towards that art form (written art) as well. I think that poetry can compliment what’s visual,” Bingamon said. “Visuals can be interpreted over and over again to give new meaning. Sometimes that can happen when you listen to music or read poetry. But when I make a piece, I know the initial reason I created it and when I look at it again, it might have a different meaning for me. It can always be reused and touch me in the present moment.”At her art sessions, Bingamon said she encourages students to not be “too cognitive” and simply immerse themselves in their chosen photographs and write freely.”Then you get to express exactly how you are feeling in that moment, based on what you’re doing,” said Lisa Vargas, graduate student intern at the Multi-Cultural Center. “It’s going to be a self-expression piece of what they’re identity means to them.”Students who truly connect with their work on a deeper level, Bingamon said, may be taken aback by their own wave of emotions. The writing process, she said, often stirs up buried sentiments. “Usually what happens is people are like, “I didn’t even know that I wrote that,’ and, “That really must be speaking about something that’s happening in my life,'” Bingamon said. “It’s not to say that everyone has some sort of crazy breakthrough in every workshop. I’ve have had a lot of people who had meaningful experiences but for the most part people have a great time and learn about themselves.”To fully benefit from the workshop, students should question themselves and be open to learning, Vargas said.”Through posing questions, through receiving that information, folks are going to have the opportunity to create something that’s going to be positive and vibrant and show self-love,” Vargas said.Interns at the Multi-Cultural Center said the workshop can be a place for students to reassess their abilities to heal and whether or not they have the courage to love.”Self-love is really having the courage to take care of yourself and to acknowledge that you are powerful,” Bingamon said. “Ultimately what this workshop really gives Sac State is a place for self-reflection. I think that is the key to healing. Everything connects – self-love &- healing. To heal, you have to frame that element of self-love for yourself, which comes with reflection.”Bingamon said this concept of “SoulCollage” helped her become a stronger individual. She said she overcame identity conflicts she faced in college through artistic expression.

As a biracial and ethnic studies student, she said learning about Philippine history and American colonization was overwhelming.She recalled feeling like a “product of imperialism” and powerless in the face of “hegemony.””It wasn’t just about identity. It was learning about globalization, learning about war and the implications of it – and just really having so many feelings that were bottled up inside,” Bingamon said. “I just found that creating various collages that reflected my pain, my confusion really led to a healing element for me because there was a way for me to release that energy &- the energy of the pain, the helplessness … I felt like I couldn’t do anything about the structures of society.”Whilst exploring personal identities, Vargas said the “HeARTwork” participants will also integrate communal experiences.”They’ll be so many individuals here but, collectively, we’ll be here building community and it’s all through art,” Vargas said. “It’s all through raising social justice awareness and your own individual awareness about self, in order to create your own self.”Those two hours may not heal a pained community or an individual, Bingamon, but they can at least be an eye-opener.”Students are busy – they have work, they have school, they have families, they’re worried about what’s next; just so many things going on. They never really have time to reflect on their lives,” Bingamon said. “They’ve (past students) really appreciated that through this workshop it is all about them and it is about how they feel and what’s going on in their lives. It gives them a chance, in an hour or two hours, for whatever, to contemplate and just restructure everything that’s going on internally &- or at least start to.”Bingamon said her main motivation for “HeARTwork” and sharing her knowledge came from her own personal growth and ability to transcend feelings through art.”I”ve personally changed and I’ve seen people be moved and be touched by what they’ve discovered. I just think it’s important and I want other people to have that chance,” Bingamon said. “I want to offer these workshops to people because I definitely understand that finding healing in our everyday lives is necessary for us to move on, to grow as people and to become who we really are.”

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