16 years

advocating for

human rights

Image: A CITY IN LIMBO by Brittany Greeson

You’re invited to:

Terroir Territory

December 12, 2024, 6:00–9:00pm

625 N Kingsbury Street, Chicago, IL

Join AWP for our year-end fundraiser featuring a special evening of wine tasting and an exhibition highlighting 10 years of the Emerging Lens Fellowship. This event will feature the work of 2023-24 Fellows Astrig Agopian and Natalia Favre, whose projects reflect the deep connection between land, identity, and cultural resilience. Just as wine is shaped by the terroir that nourishes it, Astrig’s Like There’s No Tomorrow and Natalia’s Maloneras: Seeds of Resistance explore how soil and territory preserve heritage and memory amidst adversity.

If you are unable to attend, or do not reside in Chicago, you can still participate by purchasing sets of digital raffle tickets for one of the many giveaways that will be raffled off on the evening of December 12.

Purchase a ticket here! Student and young professional pricing is available.

ON VIEW:

Borders Cruzadas:
A WELCOMING PLACE

September 20, 2024 – November 1, 2024

Location: Marquette Park

AWP is pleased to debut Borders Cruzadas: A Welcoming Place as part of diversión, a curatorial intervention at Marquette Park.

This outdoor installation kicks-off our public engagement campaign leveraging the universal power of photography and storytelling to foster a more inclusive discourse on immigration. Through a series of photographs by Oscar B. Castillo and Wil Sands, the installations demonstrate how small acts of welcome can turn urban spaces into refuges of hope and belonging. Thanks to support from the Walder Foundation, the campaign aspires to create a tool for understanding and a reminder that cities are shaped by their inhabitants. 

Additional installations will launch this fall on October 11 at Humboldt Park and Ping Tom Park.

Borders Cruzadas: A Welcoming Place on view at Marquette Park

Astrig Agopian, 2023 Emerging Lens Fellow

 

PROJECT LAUNCH:

"LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW"

What would you take with you if you only had hours to leave a home you can never return to?
 
This is the central question French-Armenian photojournalist and 2023 Emerging Lens Fellow Astrig Agopian explores through her interactive digital exhibition, “Like There’s No Tomorrow.” Featuring an immersive display of photography, videos, essays and interviews, Astrig’s visual storytelling project covers a three year period documenting the lived experiences of ethnic Armenians in and outside of Nagorno-Karabakh. Her fieldwork began immediately following the second Nagorno-Karabakh War, culminating in a blockade of the region in 2022. With very little access to the world outside, and very little international medial coverage, residents in the region faced severe humanitarian crises including starvation and displacement. The situation escalated in September 2023, when Azerbaijani forces launched a ground offensive, bringing the region under their control within 24 hours and forcing the remaining 120,000 ethnic Armenians to flee.
 
Learn more about Astrig’s project and how you can learn more about what’s at stake for the people of Nagorno-Karabakh here.
 

AWP Presents:

Eight Years of Emerging Lens at 2024 Photoville FESTIVAL

The Emerging Lens Fellowship is ART WORKS Projects’ signature program, highlighting and celebrating global and community-centered photojournalism by supporting new and early career documentary photographers. 
AWP will be exhibiting work from the Emerging Lens Fellowship at the 13th annual Photoville Festival in New York City from June 1–16, 2024. Featured photographers include our 2022-23 fellows Astrig Agopian and Mustaga Saeed, along with early fellows Mark Anthony Brown Jr., Megan Farmer, Brittany Greeson, Emmanuel Guillén Lozano, Isadora Kosofsky, and Rachel Woolf. Opening weekend will be June 1st and 2nd in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Learn more about Photoville and AWP’s exhibition, Emerging Lens: Safety, Visibility, Justice, and a Hope for the Future

Emmanuel Guillén Lozano, 2016 Emerging Lens Fellow

Person standing in the center surrounded by a group, all looking towards the camera.

Jean Chung for Women between Peace and War: Afghanistan

18 Years, 35 Projects

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.

Since ART WORKS launched 15 years ago, we’ve supported 35 projects documenting stories around the world.

our timeline

Congo Women show by Addario, Bleasdale, Haviv, Nachtwey at the Russell Senate building.

Congo/Women at the Russell Senate building

Bring an Exhibit to Your Community

All of our exhibitions are designed to tour and can be adapted to a broad spectrum of venue types and sizes.

We are happy to provide step-by-step support for hosting one of our exhibitions or other projects.

Contact us to learn more about bringing an ART WORKS Projects exhibit to your community.

join our mailing list

Stay up-to-date on everything happening at ART WORKS Projects — new installations, artist talks, international advocacy, and more.

our funders include

Support Our Work

Help ART WORKS unlock $50,000 in our year-end donor challenge. Any gift, at any amount will be matched dollar-per-dollar up to $50,000.

Since we launched as a human rights arts advocacy organization in Chicago eighteen 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.