Wichita State’s Tyson Etienne giving back to charity with his own photography exhibit
Wichita State fans have grown to know Tyson Etienne as a basketball star on the court the last two seasons.
Later this month, Shocker fans will have the opportunity to see Etienne, who returned to WSU for a third and final season after flirting with the NBA Draft this summer, in an entirely new light.
Instead of cashing in on the NCAA’s new Name, Image and Likeness rules the way many athletes have — doing commercials or selling merchandise — the 22-year-old sophomore and reigning American Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year decided to do something different.
Etienne will host his own photography exhibit — entitled “What Do You See?” — and have a live and silent auction of a curated collection of his own photographs he took during the coronavirus pandemic shutdown of New York City.
The event will be hosted in downtown Wichita at Mud Haus, located at 922 E Douglas Ave, on Saturday, October 23 from 6-9 p.m. It will be free to enter and will include raffled gifts and picture opportunities with Etienne with profits of select images being donated to Starkey, a local nonprofit serving people with disabilities, and the PSA Cardinals, Etienne’s summer basketball team in high school.
“For me, photography has always been a hobby of mine since I was in high school,” Etienne told The Eagle. “Photography has been an escape from basketball because I do work on my craft a lot and I’m constantly in the gym, so photography has been an outlet for me. As my career in basketball continues to grow, I want to align myself in the art field and I feel like this is a great opportunity to see how to run an exhibit and connect with people in Wichita and say that I did my first photography exhibit here in Wichita, Kansas.
“Everybody sees me as a basketball player and I pride myself in that, but there’s different layers to everybody and I’m expressing one of my layers with this.”
After hand selecting the photographs to be included in the gallery, Etienne said it was important to him that the next step be to find the right charity to align with.
Supporting those diagnosed with autism has a special place in Etienne’s heart because two of his extended family members were diagnosed. After a younger cousin with autism passed away recently, Etienne knew he would want to make that a priority in his charity work. That’s why the profits of designated photographs in the auction will be donated to Starkey.
“I feel like there are a lot of people who deal with autism, but a lot of people don’t know much about it,” Etienne said. “There are different degrees to it. Some are super functioning and some have difficulties getting through life and I feel like that definitely needs more awareness. My little cousin passed away and he had autism and that’s something close to me and my uncle Marcus’ (Camby) family. When I found out about Starkey, I was glad I could help with their foundation.”
It was also important to Etienne to give back to his former AAU team, the PSA Cardinals from New York.
“A big reason I do what I do is to give back and to pay it forward,” Etienne said. “That’s why I play the game so hard. I want to help change someone else’s life as I continue to change my own life. The PSA Cardinals changed my life. I wouldn’t be where I am right now or talking to you right now if it wasn’t for the PSA Cardinals. So to help them and to give back was a no-brainer to me.”
While Etienne photographed and selected every piece that will be up for sale, his mother, Anita Gibson, an award-winning celebrity makeup artist who resides in New York City, has been organizing the event for her son as he prepares for the season.
She has been inspired by his vision.
“The world always needs more artists and I love that he’s showing that other side of him, the artist that lives within him,” Gibson said. “I’m so proud of him not just as a son and as an artist, but also as just a human being for thinking about other people other than himself. I don’t know how many kids are worrying about autism and giving back to their AAU program at his age.
“Me and his father have always tried to instill in him when you are blessed, you have to give back because you don’t struggle the same as other people struggle. Tyson has always been very conscious about volunteering or giving back in some way and this is just him taking it to another level and stepping up to give back.”
Etienne hails from Englewood, N.J., which is on the other side of the George Washington Bridge from Upper Manhattan. In his journey to basketball stardom, he has spent a lot of time in New York City training — and he’s no stranger to giving back around his hometown. Just last summer, Etienne helped organize and execute a fundraiser that helped provide meals, clothes and shoes to the elderly and families in need in an East Harlem neighborhood.
When Etienne was sent home after the coronavirus pandemic abruptly ended his freshman season at WSU in the spring of 2020, he picked up his camera and poured himself into his favorite hobby. With no access to basketball goals for the majority of that summer, Etienne took to the streets to photograph some of New York City’s busiest tourist destinations like Times Square and subway stops completely devoid of people. He hopes Wichita natives can appreciate how unique the photographs are in his collection.
“I feel like everybody here in Kansas when they think of New York City, they think about the big bridges and the tall buildings and all of the people,” Etienne said. “I wanted to be able to show images of what the city looked like during Covid that I feel like spoke to me. I hope people here can share a piece of where I come from and the city that I believe is the most beautiful city in the world. They can have a part of that in their house.”
The photographs will be presented on a high-gloss metal finish, which Gibson said accentuates the pictures even more.
Although shirts and other merchandise will not be available at the auction, Etienne said he does plan on releasing a limited collection sometime later this year.
“Hopefully Tyson will go on and become a great NBA player and these will be an amazing collector’s item,” Gibson said. “What makes it so cool is that these pictures are coming from a historic time. This pandemic is going down in the history books, especially with New York shut down the way it was. That’s never been seen before. Then you have images of that time shot by this Wichita State basketball player and I just think there’s a lot of nostalgia to it and it will be a fantastic evening.”
After averaging 16.3 points and making 3.0 three-pointers per game on 39.2% accuracy, Etienne is beginning to receive plenty of preseason recognition as the headliner back on a Wichita State team that won its first AAC title and reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
WSU fans can catch Etienne and the rest of the returners receive their AAC championship rings in the team’s first public outing on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Shocker Madness held at Koch Arena. The Shockers play their only exhibition game on Monday, Nov. 1 against Missouri Southern at Koch Arena before opening the 2021-22 season on Tuesday, Nov. 9 against Jacksonville State at Koch Arena.
This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 7:00 AM.
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