We invite artists working in all media—visual, literary, and live performance—to submit work for a juried exhibition, Side By Side, Piece by Peace, as part of the project Refuge: The Courage to Witness, initiated by Hagit Barkai, Associate Professor of Art at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette in collaboration with NUNU Art and Culture Collective. Refuge is an act of resistance, a catalyst for peace, and a space for collective healing. As artists, we find refuge first and foremost in our studios and our creative practice, a space for creative transformation and the focus of our human practices through sharing images, storytelling, ceremonies, music, shared rituals and shared food. This exhibition explores the psychological, cultural, and political mechanisms that hinder the acknowledgement of war and suffering—within ourselves, within our communities, and in the world—and the mechanisms, practices, experiences, and ideas that cultivate personal and collective courage to face the reality of each other and the possibility of peace and healing. We seek art that illuminates the obstacles obscuring the realities of conflict and the possibilities for healing, revealing how peace is lost and how it can be regained. We invite artwork that addresses any of the many forms of hiding that mask suffering and distance us from one another, examining what causes us to hide from each other, within each other, from ourselves, and from our shared humanity, as well as what brings us back into connection, truth, and clarity, including art that investigates shifting perspectives and the act of holding conflicting experiences. Submissions may address any part of the full spectrum of peace and conflict—from private struggles that disrupt our peace of mind to the broader forces that fracture peace in our communities and across the world. Works may engage with any of the mechanisms of trauma, fear, pain, hurt, greed, comfort, isolation, or the inability to choose or act, and may consider moments when bodies are treated as foreign, when the self becomes estranged, or when belonging is denied. We welcome art that exposes what is hidden, confronts what is avoided, and imagines pathways toward healing and reconnection. Artists are invited to explore one or more themes such as coexistence, juxtaposition, perspective shifts, embracing contradictions, holding contrasts, and navigating gray areas. The works weave together conflicting elements, span divides, and move between opposites, embodying the light that emerges from brokenness. The co-created space will honor the act of sharing reflections on the human experience in all its complexity as a form of resistance, connection, and collective healing. Refuge: The Courage to Witness is supported by the Acadiana Center for the Arts ArtSpark Grant, funded by the Lafayette Economic Development Authority and the National Endowment of the Arts. FREE ENTRY
Selected artists must be able to deliver the work to NUNU Arts and Culture Collective