Along with making music and art, Kea Adunagow is also a fashion designer.
Music echoed through the room as artwork lined the walls and conversations filled the space inside of LMU’s Mbongi Spot. The hub for community and collaboration — themed in celebration of Black and African cultural tradition — was filled with an energy that felt both celebratory and reflective as students gathered to close out Black History Month. Attendees came together not just to celebrate Black culture, but to engage with deeper conversations about identity, struggle and the realities of Black boyhood.
Students, artists and community members gathered for “The Black Boy Experiment” on Friday, Feb. 27, which featured a multimedia exhibit created by Kea Adunagow, marketing major and founder of 4thspective. Adunagow served as the project’s primary curator, visual artist, filmmaker and musician.
What began six months earlier as a simple idea of Adunagow’s slowly evolved into something much bigger: a multimedia art exhibit that inspired young creatives, celebrated Afro-diasporic culture and sparked meaningful conversations across campus. The project inspired a deeper exploration of identity, memory and shared experience. For Adunagow, the exhibit wasn’t just about creating art — it was about documenting experiences that often go unspoken.
“It started off as a sentence I wrote down in September,” Adunagow said. “At first I wanted to talk about Black masculinity, but as time went on I realized a lot of what I was talking about really stemmed from Black boyhood.”
As the concept developed, Adunagow began reflecting not only on broader cultural conversations but also on his own upbringing and the experiences he shared with those around him.
“I think the special thing about this exhibition was that the longer I worked on it, the more I realized I was getting a lot of inspiration from my own childhood,” Adunagow said. “The things I was touching on were things I went through, but also things my brother, my friends and other people went through together.”
But the exhibit was not only meant to be experienced through artwork and film. After students had time to explore the gallery, the night continued with a panel discussion featuring members of Brothers of Consciousness and the African Student Association (ASA). Sitting together in the Mbongi Spot conversation pit, panelists spoke openly about many of the themes presented in the exhibit and how they connected to their own experiences.
The films portrayed the realities many Black boys face growing up, including “heat checks,” danger in their communities, and the imitation of their culture by society.
Jeron Alford, computer science major, president of Brothers of Consciousness and one of the panelist speakers, explained in a later interview that collaborating on the event felt natural given the exhibit’s themes and Adunagow’s involvement in the organization.
“Kea mentioned the event to me around December or January,” Alford said. “Since he’s been a long-time member of Brothers of Consciousness and the project focused on Black boyhood, it made sense for our organizations to collaborate.”
Throughout the panel, conversations centered on mentorship, identity and the importance of community among Black men on campus.
“Growing up, I didn’t always have a lot of Black mentors,” Alford said. “So part of what we try to do through Brothers of Consciousness is create that space where Black men can support each other and have people they can emulate.”
Alford also emphasized the role that community plays in helping individuals grow both creatively and personally.
“We always work better when we have people around us pushing us,” he said. “You don’t even necessarily need people doing the exact same thing as you — you just need to be in a room with other ambitious people.”
David Opaleke, computer science major and president of ASA who also helped film parts of the project and appeared in one of the exhibit’s short films, said the collaboration between organizations reflected a larger message about unity across the Black diaspora.
“Being African isn’t separate from being Black,” Opaleke said. “Whether you’re African American, Caribbean, Nigerian or from somewhere else in the diaspora, we’re still sharing a lot of the same experiences.”
Adunagow hopes to inspire future Black creatives through his work.
Ultimately, Alford hopes projects like “The Black Boy Experiment” help students recognize the importance of community and connection.
“What I want people to take away is this idea of community,” he said. “Everyone’s experiences are different, but there should always be a place where people feel like they belong.”
As the night unfolded, the artwork, music, films and conversations revealed just how powerful and reflective the space had become. For many students in the room, the exhibit served as a source of inspiration. But for Adunagow, that inspiration did not come from nowhere.
Before organizing the gallery event, Adunagow made a point to acknowledge the artists and creatives who helped open doors for him.
“I mentioned during the panel that I wanted to give people their flowers,” Adunagow said. “Before I even did the gallery event, I wanted to honor the Black creatives who inspired me and showed others what we can access as Black creatives.”
The people Adunagow honored included Exodus Broussard (’25), Ebube Nwabuzor and Kenny Pratt. That sentiment was echoed by Opaleke, who pointed to another student exhibit that helped inspire the event.
“We really owe it to Ebube Nwabuzor and Kenny Pratt and the ‘4th Wall’ exhibit they did last semester,” Opaleke said. “Seeing them do that as business majors showed us that we could share our creative visions and ideas without feeling limited by what we study.”
“If it wasn’t for them, we probably wouldn’t have done this,” Opaleke added. “They showed us that it was possible to even be in those spaces.”
For Adunagow, the exhibit was never just about one night of art — it was about opening the door for others to follow, just as doors had once been opened for him.
“I hope that my gallery event was a point in time where underclassmen who are creatives, or aspire to be, can see something that’s never been done the way we did it and feel inspired to do something ten times better,” Adunagow said. “Sometimes you just have to see it being done and use that as a gateway to create something beautiful.”
Those interested in seeing more of Adunagow’s work can explore his creative brand, 4thspective, online or find him sharing and selling his art during Wellness Wednesday at LMU.
