Pop-Up Exhibit: Afghan Artists Creating Community
Members of the ArtLords, an Afghan-led movement using art for social transformation, present a one-day pop-up exhibit of their artwork alongside other creations by southern Vermont’s new Afghan neighbors. These Afghan artists and makers will share creations and achievements from their first year in Vermont. The exhibit will be open to the public on Monday, October 17, from 2 to 8 p.m., with a reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., including remarks by the artists and makers at 6 p.m. The ArtLords will arrive at the museum at 2 p.m. to begin creating a large mural-style painting on panels in the Wolf Kahn & Emily Mason Gallery. The public is invited to view the mural in progress.
Refugee resettlement in southern Vermont began one year ago, when the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) opened the Multicultural Community Center in partnership with SIT/World Learning, the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation, and many community leaders. Among the more than 100 Afghan refugees—families, veterans, teachers, craftspeople, lawyers, nurses, cooks, dressmakers—were five members of ArtLords: Marwa, Negina, Meetra, Zuhra and Abdullah. Over the past year, locals and newcomers have begun to know and support each other as neighbors, sharing languages and cultures, talents and dreams, challenges and joys. Last August, Honoring Honar: An ArtLords and Tape Art Mural Project reaffirmed Brattleboro’s identity as a place of refuge for artists.
ArtLords was established in 2014 as a global grassroots movement of “artivists” motivated by the desire to pave the way for social transformation and behavioral change through employing the soft power of art and culture as a non-intrusive approach. ArtLords realized the opportunity for converting the negative psychological impact of blast walls on the people of Kabul into a positive visual experience through murals. ArtLords’ work has been celebrated by artists and leaders around the world and has been displayed at the United Nations.
ADMISSION: Free
View photos from the event here.
