Art Works Projects

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625 N. Kingsbury
Chicago, IL 60654
Side view of a car looking into the front passenger seat where a child in a blue coat is looking at the camera.
A CITY IN LIMBO by Brittany Greeson

15 Years
Advocating For

Human Rights

ART WORKS Projects leverages the power of photography and documentary film to raise awareness and educate the public about some of the most pervasive and grave human rights violations.

About Us

ART WORKS Projects is celebrating our 15 year anniversary as a human rights organization advancing social justice through advocacy, grassroots activism, and visual storytelling.

We invite you on the journey as we build a vision for what the next 15 years look like in our pursuit for human rights and social justice.

As we continue to build out our new look, we encourage you to visit our old site to learn more about AWP.

VISIT OLD SITE

A person is sitting in a chair outside a building being administered a shot by another person.

Receive invitations to our 15 year anniversary events and find out how you can become an AWP supporter.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

A side view of a person in judicial robes.
Stephanie Sunata 

15 Years of Advocacy

As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, our hope is that we come out of this shared experience with lessons learned about our place and role in this global community. 

Our 15 year anniversary allows us an opportunity to revisit our past exhibits and the issues we set out to address since 2006 in effort to re-imagine what the next decade of human rights activism and advocacy might look like through the lens of visual arts and beyond.

OUR WORK TO DATE

Our Timeline

AWP opens with traveling exhibit “DARFUR/DARFUR” to 25 international cities.

2006

Portrait of person hold hand to mouth in one hand and baby in other.
“Horn of Africa” opens at George Washington University

2011

Person standing in the center surrounded by a group, all looking towards the camera.
AWP partners with SAPPI, Ideas That Matter and UNWOMEN to produce exhibit “Women Between Peace and War”

2012

In honor of World Refugee Day, images from “Sanctuary/Sustenance” are displayed in 20 international cities

2013

Child sitting on shoulders of person cheering.
“Children of Syria” exhibit opens at 625 Gallery; Filming begins for AWP’s first full-feature documentary film, “The Prosecutors”

2014

Photographer Amanda Rivkin documents the realities of food access through solo exhibit, “Sustenance: Chicago and the Food Chain”

2015

MacArthur Foundation awards AWP with significant grant to complete post-production work and outreach for “The Prosecutors”

2016

Emerging Lens recipient, Isadora Kosofky, debuts exhibit, “Vinny & David: Life and Incarceration of a Family,” at 625 Gallery

2017

Emerging Lens recipient, Rachel Woolf, debuts exhibit, “Deported: An American Division”; The first screening of “The Prosecutors” at the PSVI Conference in London

2018

Emerging Lens recipient, Megan Farmer, debuts, “Life After a Hate Crime,” with generous funding from the Henry Nias Foundation

2019

AWP launches digital exhibit, “The Second Wave: Thailand’s Economic Struggle,” documenting the ongoing struggles of Covid-19 on the informal economy

2020

AWP revisits Flint, MI in the midst of Covid-19 to develop collaborative exhibit, “ECHOES,” showcasing work created by students in the Youth News Movement

2021

Upcoming Events

Witnesses to War:

A new generation’s pathway to finding home

October 20, 12:00pm CT

View event

A young boys sits in a living room with decorations for a 4th birthday.
Bassam Khabieh, 2021
A woman and her two daughters walks their dog on a dirt path.
Erika Schultz

Project Spotlight: Sanctuary/Sustenance – Five Years Later 

As AWP reflects on our past 15 years, we are revisiting our friends whose stories left an indelible mark on our journey together. We asked photographer Erika Schultz to check in with the Biswa family five years after featuring their family’s resettlement story – from a camp in Nepal to reuniting with their family in Washington.

VIEW THE DIGITAL EXHIBITION

Get Involved

Since ART WORKS Projects (AWP) launched as a human rights arts advocacy organization in Chicago fifteen years ago, we have made strides in establishing a significant global footprint. Using art to reach hundreds of thousands of viewers, AWP has inspired audience members on five continents to support an end to grave human rights abuses. While we are proud of our impact, we know more essential works needs to be done.

BECOME A SUPPORTER

Generous support for ART WORKS Projects is provided by funders including: The MacArthur Foundation, The Conant Family Foundation, and The Henry Nias Foundation.