A Love Letter To Community: Besa Gordon Reflects On the WOW Gallery on Good Day Seattle

Besa Gordon joined Good Day Seattle with Erin Mayovsky this morning to talk about the closure of Wonder of Women (WOW) Gallery at the end of last month, a loss that marked the end of a monumental business in Seattle, but the start of a long lasting legacy of safety, creativity, and uplifting Black women and Black joy. Reflecting on the gallery’s closing celebration on September 27, Besa brought a mixture of mourning and pride. “It's not like I felt that I was going to go to a funeral or anything like that, but I definitely didn't feel that it was going to be as much of a celebration. And it ended up being a nice celebration,” she said.

A testament to WOW Gallery’s power in bringing people together over heartfelt healing and cultural expression, Besa shared an anecdote about a Back2Besa viewer she recently met who told her he had met the love of his life at WOW Gallery many years ago. “You have people making love connections. You also have people going in the back into the healing spaces and releasing different traumas. And then you also just have people making new sisterhoods and brotherhoods and just other amazing connections that are happening within that space,” Besa said, reiterating that walking into the gallery always felt like a big hug.

To cap off all the incredible events WOW Gallery has hosted over the years, their closing celebration last month was a bittersweet moment of love, appreciation, and empowerment, with plenty of hope for the WOW’s next chapter.

The full love letter to the WOW Gallery will be featured this weekend on Back2Besa in a special episode devoted to the legacy and impact of this Seattle institution. Watch Back2Besa on FOX 13 Seattle, Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. and FOX 13+ Sundays at 10 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.