Tell Me a Story

By Sabrina Davidson as told to Aaron Burgin

This story was published in the Summer 2023 Issue of SDSU Magazine.

Sabrina Davidson is an SDSU alumna who graduated from the School of Art and Design in 2021 and is earning her master’s in architecture at Arizona State University. An eclectic artist in both visual and performing media, Davidson created “The Black in Crimson and Black” — a mural in the University Library that honors the contributions of SDSU’s Black luminaries — with fellow alumna Avia Ramm. What follows is Davidson’s story of finding her passion in the arts and how that led to the November 2022 unveiling of the iconic mural.

The day “The Black in Crimson and Black” mural was unveiled was really wild. To see it on the wall was beautiful. It was as if to say, “Yes! Black people, we are here, and we are part of the history of San Diego State University and have been here for a very long time.”

Of the seven people in the mural, Joe Johnson, the former dean of the College of Education; Hal Brown, the university’s first Black administrator; and Amber St. James, a drag icon and activist, were there. While their legacies live on in many ways at SDSU, it was amazing to know that their legacies would also live on through this mural.

It felt good to put more of us on the walls.

My first memory with art goes way back. As a kindergartener in Houston, I was given an assignment, and I drew a horse and a man on a horse. Pretty simple, but my teacher said it was good — and something sparked in me. I was appreciative, and then I just kept drawing. And I went all over the place, honestly.

I have been, in so many words, putting little tools inside of a little pouch that is becoming bigger and bigger as far as what I can possibly do as an artist. I am a musician and a photographer. I am a painter and sketch still to this very day. I organize and make ceramics. Thank goodness I went through the studio art program at SDSU because they don’t make you choose a major, per se. You can pick and choose what you’re interested in — and that was my art style anyway: picking and choosing, putting them in my pouch.

An assignment in an experimental art class three years ago eventually led me to “The Black in Crimson and Black.” It taught us how to be a muralist from design to finished project. My mural was called “A Place to Gather,” which was inspired by an experience I had while taking Arabic. I noticed there weren’t many books in our library on the Arabic language, and I wanted to further the representation of different cultures at our school. I wanted to see South Asian folks on the wall. I wanted to see them somewhere; I wanted to hear about them.

Serendipity comes to mind when I think of this mural. After I finished the project, I happened to see a flyer outside my class from Annie Buckley, the director of the School of Art and Design. She was asking for mural proposals. So, I turned mine in, and after I didn’t hear back, I saw her walking down the hallway and followed her into her office. I asked if she had received my proposal. She did — and she liked it.

That became the first mural I ever created, and it is still on the wall of the art department building. It opened the door for me to work on a number of projects at SDSU, including “The Black in Crimson and Black.” My experience with art has been incredible, but I know I still have much more to give. My pouch still has a lot of room.