Fort Collins – Colorado State University’s Curfman Gallery takes art to a new level with a multimedia exhibit that inadvertently examines this summer’s hot topic. Rachel Dolezal and Caitlyn Jenner’s recent experiences led many to ask: “If one can be trans-gender, can one also be Trans-racial?”

The Exhibit, Beyond Color: A Life Journey Using Art to Transcend Culture – The Fauna Hodel Experience, is the true life story of a Caucasian woman who thought, and worked diligently to prove, she was Black until well into her adult years when she learned the truth of her identity.

“I almost died when I found out I wasn’t Black,” Fauna shared. “When I was a child, it was all about color, now I’m just about the color of love.”

Born the granddaughter of a powerful Hollywood doctor, Fauna’s grandfather was a suspect in 1947’s Black Dahlia Murder. The investigation led police to learn of George Hodel’s alleged incestuous relationship with his daughter – Fauna’s mother – Tamar Hodel. The resulting trial led to Tamar’s sentencing in a girls’ home, which was key to the seemingly innocuous fib she placed on her daughter’s birth certificate, “Father: Negro.” Thinking baby Fauna was bi-racial, her grandparents gave her away to a Black family in segregation-era Reno, Nevada.

Beyond Color intends to immerse visitors in Fauna’s experiences using the many artistic links in her life: cinema, fashion, music, writing, architecture, sculpture, photography and film. “It’s a true cross-cultural story of an extraordinary woman,” said Donnyale Ambrosine, founder of Culturs.guru. “We’ve worked to develop a multi-media journey through the maze of a life with unimaginable twists and turns, and unbelievable characters, with the outcome of delivering a message of love and understanding that transcends race, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, time and geography.”

Fauna added, “When I was eight years old I vowed I was going to grow up and tell my story to make a difference in the world. And to see it on this level, at this University, via Culturs, is just amazing.”

The exhibit is partially sponsored by The Department of Journalism and Media Communications at Colorado State University, Culturs Club at CSU and Colorado State University’s Curfman Gallery. The exhibit was developed by Culturs.guru Global Multicultural Magazine, an online publication devoted to uncovering hidden diversity, as well as, the nuances of cultural communication in the 21^st Century.

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Media Coverage of the Beyond Color Exhibit:

• PRINT STORY: Rocky Mountain Collegian article on Beyond Color Art Exhibit, Culture and diversity
• WEB STORY: Source Magazine and e-newsletter stories Beyond Color: A Life Journey