Cameron Gray, a graduate student in art and visual culture, found inspiration for his exhibit in his own life and his experiences as a black man in a predominantly white town and campus.

“What I’m trying to illustrate is the idea of what the minority community feels like,” Gray said. “To walk into a public area and see no one like yourself is crazy to me.”

The Octagon Center for the Arts is working in conjunction with the College of Design Multicultural Liaison Office to host a panel of guests to discuss people of color in the arts. Reginald Stewart, vice president for diversity and inclusion, has called Gray the “catalyst” behind this event.

The panel will begin at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Octagon Center for the Arts at 427 Douglas Ave. in Ames. Gray’s exhibit “A Negro From the South” is being displayed at the Octagon Center until March 9.

As an artist, Gray works to showcase what it means to be a black man in the United States.

“I feel like people are quick to use the black male form but not really look at the soul of the person that they’re using,” he said, noting that it goes back to the concept of slave culture relating it to how outspoken black athletes like Lebron James are treated by some in the media. “Our black bodies were used for one thing and one thing only. We were told ‘I don’t want to hear your thoughts; just do that thing you’re good at and shut up.’”

Gray described the process of the design of his exhibit.

“I never did want one piece to look exactly like the other,” Gray said. “That was a big challenge with this particular project — making sure each piece had its own separate feel yet was very cohesive.”

In regard to Thursday’s panel, Gray said he is “intrigued in listening to the other panelists’ stories.”

You get a window into our souls and our understanding of what it’s like to be a black body in a white world,” Gray said. “Hopefully it will change a lot of minds and views on black society and black culture.”

Stewart will be leading the panelists, who include Gray, Eulanda Sanders, professor and chair of apparel, events and hospitality management, Brenda Jones, professor of art and visual culture and Mitchell Squire, professor of architecture.