A student is hoping to expose female faces of the art world in DeKalb through a Halloween art exhibit.

Senior illustration major Hayley Devitt is debuting her first art exhibit, called What Are You Afraid of?, from 9 p.m. to midnight today at the House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Highway. Not long after starting her Facebook group Humanities for Womyn, where female members have the opportunity to showcase any of their talents, Devitt came up with the idea to organize an art exhibit to display female expressionism on another level.

Along with revealing their pieces, Devitt hopes to spread positivity among the female community.

“I’ve noticed between women we are encouraged to scrutinize each other, but we should be helping each other,” Devitt said. “We need to be working together instead of fighting, and I think this is how we can do that.”

The exhibit is focused around the theme of Halloween. Devitt encourages attendees to come out dressed up in their finest costumes, but all the work featured touches each artist on personal levels.

“Some are humorous, others more serious, but overall various themes can be seen,” Devitt said.

One of the performers of the night, alumna Jerene-Elise Nall, who is presenting her poems, said she noticed fear in her own creations and also in some of the compositions.

“[Fear] shows up a lot when people do personal pieces of creative work,” Nall said. “Everyone knows what it’s like to have fear. A lot of my work shows the internal response to it.”

Assisting Devitt in her first art exhibit venture is the the House Cafe, which has helped arrange and host several musical programs.

“We’re providing the space, supplies, staff and most of all support for the event,” said Jolly Baba, event planner at the House Cafe. “She did a lot of the networking, finding artists and putting the exhibit together. It’s just an exciting opportunity to provide somebody a platform.”