Exhibition Statement

One of the reasons we centered our Love is Kind: Summer of Community exhibition around National Love is Kind Day is because of the importance of Love and Kindness in the healing journey, the connection to domestic violence awareness, and a current global shift to stand together for a more kind and just world.

Many people from marginalized communities have experienced domestic violence, emotional abuse, trauma, and complex relationship dynamics, often in ways that deeply impact our mental health. For many of us, our common ground is found in the ways we’ve been harmed by society itself: by systemic injustices, racial tensions, discrimination, inaccessibility, or the absence of accommodations that allow us to exist fully and safely. Including access to essential resources like suicide hotlines, trauma informed therapists, and more inclusive and accommodating work places.

There is so much that we suffer in silence, so many ways our voices are silenced by others. And for many of us, art becomes the only way we can process our experiences, the only way we can tell our stories, find clarity, and create peace in the face of great suffering.

Despite it all, we lift our voices and stand together. We say: we are still here. We believe in finding common ground and building something together, discovering ways to build bridges, and celebrate each other’s authenticity. This is why their stories and creations matter so deeply. We care about these stories. We care about these communities. And through this exhibition, we hope to help preserve the beauty of our diverse humanity and our resilience as a species.

While we are proud to work alongside an LGBTQ+ organization, this is an inclusive exhibition where everyone is welcome to share what community means to them. We especially want to uplift voices from underrecognized communities in the arts including disabled, neurodivergent, LGBTQ+, people of color, Indigenous creatives, and others who don’t always fit the mold. Community may mean something different to each of us, and show up in different ways. There is both the beauty and the suffering, coexisting, and our complicated relationships with our selves and the world around us, using art as a tool to connect, to heal, to process.

This is the Welcome Gallery
Here you'll find the first three featured artists.

Additional rooms and galleries are currently in curation,

we hope to make this an ongoing,

interactive experience with the community.
Revisiting stories.
Building relationships.
Watching the art grow and evolve.

Become inspired.

Share what community means to you.
What helps you feel seen?
What inspires you to keep going, to keep growing, to keep creating?

Thank you for joining us, for the artists, and the courage it requires to share a part of yourself with others.

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Featuring:

Amanda Flores

Tyler Alpern

Kai Zoeller

Produced By: Confluence Community

Curated By: Phyllis D.R. Sanders

In Collaboration with: Kansas LGBTQ+ Community & CODAC Global

Submit Your Work for this Ongoing Virtual Art Exhibition