The Intersection of Art and Advocacy
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
There is something meditative and anchoring about our creative pursuits. For me, it's quilting. It starts with the fabric—pulling from my stash or my scrap bin and thinking about the story I want to tell or the feeling I want. As the pieces come together, I arrange them on my design wall and step back. That distance is what lets me see how it's working. Sometimes I'll even take a picture in black and white, which strips out the color and shows me whether the values are doing their job. I keep changing it all around until I'm happy with it. What comes off the wall is a story that none of those scraps could tell on their own.
I have always known the power of art. What we rarely do is talk about it in this work. Avenues to Justice: The Art of Advocacy, hosted by the DC Bar Foundation's Young Lawyers Network Leadership Council, made the space to do exactly that. Down Gallery's Glimmer on the Horizon exhibition, which featured local artists, was paired with a rich panel discussion exploring how art and creative storytelling can advance impact, engagement, and justice.
One piece in the exhibition, Birthright by Lex Marie (right), transformed receiving blankets into a reflection on Black maternal health. I did not recognize the fabric as blankets until a question during the Q&A drew it out—and once I knew, I could not unsee it. That is how it often works. Someone has to tell you the story before you can see what is in front of you.
The artist I keep coming back to is Clementine Hunter. She was born on a Louisiana plantation in the 1880s and spent most of her life there as a field hand and a cook. She did not begin painting until her fifties. She painted on window shades, cardboard, jugs, and gourds—whatever surface was at hand—and she made quilts. Her early paintings sold for less than a dollar. In 1955, she became the first Black artist to have a solo exhibition at a New Orleans museum, and she was not permitted to attend it. A friend let her in after hours to see her own work on the walls.
Hunter went unrecognized for a long time—not for what she made, but for who made it and what she made it on. That question—what we value, who we credit, whose stories get told, and how—is not confined to art. It ran straight through the panel, where lawyers, artists, and nonprofit leaders kept arriving at the same place: the work lands differently depending on who is behind the camera, who is holding the pen, and how we see the person whose future is at stake.
If you joined us for Avenues to Justice, I hope you also left with a deeper appreciation for the many ways people contribute to advancing justice. Whether through art, advocacy, philanthropy, partnership, or simply showing up in support of your community, every effort strengthens the work we do together.
If you couldn't make it or wish to revisit the artwork, the online Glimmer on the Horizon gallery is open through Aug. 1. With 50% of the proceeds from every art sale going to the DC Bar Foundation, your purchase will support DC residents and families while inviting more people to see the stories—and shared experiences—that connect us all.
Sincerely,
Kirra L. Jarratt
Chief Executive Officer
