Texas Southern University

         Doyle Burley’s mural, “The Birth of Expression,” explores imagery of the cycle of life. He directs the audience’s attention to the focal point by centering the silhouettes of women at the palm of a hand.  The primary focus on women aligns with his instructor Dr. John Biggers. Biggers celebrated Black women and their contributions to society through his paintings and murals and taught his students to do the same.  Burley’s mural is a direct reflection of Dr. Biggers’ teachings. Biggers demanded that students care for details in their artwork; one particular focus of his was the realistic and meticulous depiction of hands. Burley embodies this practice with the large hand in the middle of the mural, including often neglected details like the loops and whorls of fingerprints. Continuing from the centerpoint, womanhood is celebrated as the silhouetted figures are seen in a round dance with extended arms, perhaps figuratively representing the circle of life. 

         The design extends out to either side with balanced images of night and day, the celestial and the earthly. The left, nighttime, celestial side includes the moon and a faceless man and woman. Towards the bottom, there is also an African mask and an intricately decorated drum or vessel. The right, daytime, earthly side depicts the sun, rain and lightning, in addition to a horse, bird, cotton, and corn. The moon and sun each embody human forms, with the moon as a woman with an afro who is made up of a constellation of stars, and the sun featuring an outstretched fist. Similar to John Biggers’ seminal mural “The Web of Life,” which is housed in the University Museum at Texas Southern, Burley’s mural reflects a sense of symmetry and interconnectedness, drawn together by a rainbow that arches through the entire mural.

This program is made possible in part by a grant from Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.