John Jennings, an educator and visual communications artist, will kick off a four-week exhibition of an eclectic comic art collection, Matterz of the Fact, at Virginia State University’s Meredith Art Gallery in Harris Hall beginning Sept. 24 and running through Oct. 23. The event is free and open to the public. 

 Jennings, an associate professor of graphic design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, lectures on visual literacy, popular culture and the visual communication found in Hip Hop culture. Jennings is also co-author of the graphic novel, The Hole: Consumer Culture and co-founder of Eye Trauma, a web-based collection of sequential artists, activists and curators who seek to expand the public’s perception of the comics medium. Jennings and his research partner, Damian Duffy, recently launched J2D2 (www.j2d2arts@blogspot.com), a site dedicated to research in popular culture and visual literacy.

Jennings is currently working on his next book, Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture, which features art by talented underground African American artists and cartoonists.