Members of the UB community are invited to take part in an interactive art project designed to celebrate the uniqueness of each member of the community and raise awareness of how labels impact our perception of and interactions with the world.

UB’s version of the UNITY art project takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 and 2 in the Student Union Social Hall, also known as the Flag Room.

The event is sponsored by the Intercultural and Diversity Center (IDC).

Based on a similar project launched by Nancy Belmont last June in Alexandria, Virginia, UB’s UNITY project will feature a circular arrangement of 16 poles, each pole labeled with an identifier, such as “I speak more than one language,” “I am a parent” and “I identify as LGBTQ.”

Using skeins of yarn, participants will string yarn between the poles with which they identify.

As more people take part, the yarn creates a “canopy of interconnectedness,” says Terri Budek, associate director of the IDC. “In the end, we see that we are all connected by something,” she says.

UB’s UNITY project was organized by the Diversity Advocates at the IDC in an attempt, Budek says, to “counter the divisiveness and negativity of our country’s national political conversation.”

For more information on the UNITY project, visit its website.