LIZZIE BROWN

Richmond, VA

Mixed media, 30 × 24 × 1.5 inches, 2025

NFS

fromthecorearts.com

I create color-block portraits of African American men, women, and children in order to examine black identity and the multifaceted nature of the black experience. These portraits highlight cultural resilience and introspection to counter social bias towards the Black community. My painting "Resolved" addresses the exhibit theme by elevating Americans whose voices were lost and ignored. During the Revolutionary era, African American women were major contributors to domestic, agricultural, and military labor. To honor their often unacknowledged efforts, this piece seeks to elevate an enslaved woman from that time. The use of text from recycled books provides an introspective and anecdotal dialogue, offering insight into her thoughts and story. Furthermore, pieced decorative papers reference the patchwork found in the mending and making of clothing and quilts, while the inclusion of gold leaf symbolizes that enslaved people and their contributions are invaluable.

TOM CHAMBERS

Richmond, VA

Photography, 65 × 36 inches, 2008

$5,000

tomchambersphoto.com

Tales of Heroines Raised in a family alongside four brothers and the absence of sisters, my eyes were opened by my daughter’s growing up experiences from a girl to a teenager to a young woman.  As a result, I am in awe of determined young women like my daughter who meet and negotiate both small daily hurdles and major life challenges. Their determination, empathy, and ingenuity in navigating a complex world make them heroines in my eyes. My photographic series Tales of Heroines is a collection of stories about the lives of young women told through portraits. The subjects squarely face the viewer and the images employ a consistent format with a low horizon line, vertical orientation, and arched framing which invites the viewer into the story. Using magic realism, the power of storytelling emanates from the details in the photomontages. The stories are intentionally provocative enticing the viewer to engage with questions about the Tales of Heroines.

MARCIA HAFFMANS

Richmond, VA

Thread on peace silk, nails, metal nuts, 10.5” x 9” x 3”, 2026

$1,500

haffmansart.com

Mass detention is THE human rights violation of present US, with a long-lasting ripple effect imposed on lives and future generations. As an immigrant of a country with few people behind bars, my work has been focusing on highlighting the humanity of women in jails through their script. Works submitted are part of my ‘Script under Suppression’ platform, a stage for memory of past and future, with varied levels of legibility. It is an investigation of suppression but also connection across beings, highlighting voices too often unseen. Handwriting captured my interest when I received my grandmother’s diary, written as our country (Netherlands) was being invaded in 1940 at the onset of WWII. Although I was close to ‘oma’, I had no idea of her trauma prior to reading her journal after her passing. I re-marked her voice in space, incorporating her content in 3-D paintings. It has led to my self-initiated creative programs for women detained in US jails, continued upon reentry (since 2017).

MARCIA HAFFMANS

Richmond, VA

Polymer, thread, nuts & bolts, pins, 64” x 36” x 4”, 2025

NFS

haffmansart.com

Mass detention is THE human rights violation of present US, with a long-lasting ripple effect imposed on lives and future generations. As an immigrant of a country with few people behind bars, my work has been focusing on highlighting the humanity of women in jails through their script. Works submitted are part of my ‘Script under Suppression’ platform, a stage for memory of past and future, with varied levels of legibility. It is an investigation of suppression but also connection across beings, highlighting voices too often unseen. Handwriting captured my interest when I received my grandmother’s diary, written as our country (Netherlands) was being invaded in 1940 at the onset of WWII. Although I was close to ‘oma’, I had no idea of her trauma prior to reading her journal after her passing. I re-marked her voice in space, incorporating her content in 3-D paintings. It has led to my self-initiated creative programs for women detained in US jails, continued upon reentry (since 2017).

RICHARD MARTIN HAHN

Youngstown, OH

Photography, 20” x 15” x 1.25”, 2026

$250

richardhahnphotography.com

For one quarter of a century, the American experiment has been defined not only by unity, but by the constant tension between belonging, protest, and the right to speak. The photographs in these images explore that tension through ordinary spaces where this story quietly unfolds. In one image, a weathered window frames unseen hands pressed against glass, the American flag draped below like a fragile promise. The gesture suggests both presence and distance—an immigrant gaze looking outward while still held apart. In another, a monumental flag interrupts a wall of street art and protest imagery, surrounded by voices of culture, memory, and dissent. All images in my series, "America: A Work in Progress", ask a simple question: Who gets to claim the American voice? Patriotism and protest share the same visual space, revealing a nation still negotiating its ideals. Freedom, after all, is not a fixed symbol—it is an ongoing act of expression.

JEFFREY HALL

Richmond, VA

Ceramic vessel shot with 9mm handgun at 15 yards, 16” x 14” x 14”, 2025

$1,200

jeffreydeanhall.com

My relationship with guns is complicated. While I grew up around guns and am the son of a police officer, I do not own one myself. These three diverse sculptures are parts of my Trigger Warning series. American Icon | American Altar, Open Wounds (9mm), and Holy. Ghost. examine how firearms function as powerful symbols within American culture—particularly in the South—where they intersect with ideas of freedom, protection, and faith. Drawing on the visual language of altars, relics, and ritual, the works explore how civic and cultural beliefs can take on forms of reverence. Through processes of printing, rupture, and recontextualization, these works transform familiar objects into sites of reflection on the American voice—one shaped by both expression, violence, and dissent. By presenting shooting paraphernalia as objects of devotion and destruction, the work questions how freedom is defined, who it serves, and how it is contested across deeply divided perspectives.

MARIA JABIONSKI

Monticello, GA

Tea-dyed paper, acrylic paint, wood on cradled wood board, 30×30×1.5 inches, 2025

$3,850

Absence is often a construction, not a truth. This work focuses on the current administration’s systematic removal of specific words from government websites, communication, and/or policies, and its broader effort to erase these terms from our shared vocabulary. This censorship is not merely symbolic; it shapes whose lives, histories, and environments are deemed worthy of recognition. Forty targeted terms relating to identity, ecology, justice, and place hide here. Embedded within the dense fields of letters of a traditional word search game, they require time and care to locate. The viewer’s act of searching is central to the work. To actively look for a hidden word is to counter erasure by participating in a quiet but radical affirmation: what has been declared unsayable still exists. The lack of a visible word list (it is on the back) makes solving the entire puzzle extremely difficult, demonstrating the danger of such erasure: once gone, will we even remember what is missing?

ANNA KOVINA

Richmond, VA

Photography of Sculpture, performance 2026

$1,800

annakovina.com

The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was news to me when, in 1995, I arrived in the United States from the newly defunct USSR. I was seventeen, alone, without English. I ran with the intoxicating idea. I became a lawyer, then farmer and a stay-at-home mom of three. Inspired by their creativity, I began studying sculpture formally at forty-two. All that was easy. The hard part is now quietly reclaiming a personal identity subsumed by motherhood. This intimate process claims freedom as a daily practice, in my kitchen and in the basement studio, between pickups and drop-offs. Juggler carries the weight of our most sacred taboos about mothers. Its transformation from small piece of wool to cast glass to photographic print changes its meaning and presence. In Reappearing Act, the body struggles to offer warmth and comfort while surviving the internal chaos of refusing to remain contained by a fixed identity. She may be engulfed by projections, but not easily contained

ANNA KOVINA

Richmond, VA

Video, 2:06, 2026

$1,000

annakovina.com

The right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was news to me when, in 1995, I arrived in the United States from the newly defunct USSR. I was seventeen, alone, without English. I ran with the intoxicating idea. I became a lawyer, then farmer and a stay-at-home mom of three. Inspired by their creativity, I began studying sculpture formally at forty-two. All that was easy. The hard part is now quietly reclaiming a personal identity subsumed by motherhood. This intimate process claims freedom as a daily practice, in my kitchen and in the basement studio, between pickups and drop-offs. Juggler carries the weight of our most sacred taboos about mothers. Its transformation from small piece of wool to cast glass to photographic print changes its meaning and presence. In Reappearing Act, the body struggles to offer warmth and comfort while surviving the internal chaos of refusing to remain contained by a fixed identity. She may be engulfed by projections, but not easily contained

LESLIE LANDERKIN

Alexandria, VA

Photography Archival Print, 28 × 33 × 1 inches, 2022

$400

leslielanderkinphotography.com

Leslie Landerkin lives in Alexandria, Virginia, photographs in urban and rural areas in and around the DC metropolitan area – gardens, parks, marshes, old buildings, streets and alleys. Her prints are primarily black and white but some locations and seasons just ask to be in color. Landerkin is attracted to black and white photography as it removes the distraction of color, allowing the viewer to see image details and textures more readily. Black and white also creates a contemplative or serene mood. Photography captures the details of the scene but the photographer's frame gives it meaning.

NICHOLAS LOAN LAZAROAE

Ogden, UT

Black & White Photography, 21” x 27” x 1” inches, 2026.

$595

The inherent power of photography lies in its deep-rooted ability to evoke a common humanity. If the racism and Islamophobia toward the Islamic community within the United States is an attempt to negate our common humanity, then photography can and should be perceived as the opposite of that prejudice. In my photograph “Through You”, a child stares deeply into the camera during the tying of hands, or Qiyam. The image was made during an Eid celebration in 2026 at the Khadeeja Islamic Center in West Valley City, Utah. The child is the son of West African immigrants, and stares towards the camera with a gaze that establishes presence over the prejudice directed towards his community. Though they may be marginalized in the media, ce over the prejudice directed towards his community. Though they may be marginalized in the media, their dignity challenges attempts at erasing their status as equal Americans. The Islamic community’s practice of their faith recalls the highest ideals of freedom.

GREIG LEACH

Richmond, VA

Shiva paintsticks on paper, 52” × 40” × 1” inches, 2020

$4,800

greigleach.com

This work centers on the protest of 2020 when our 250 year old democracy began its dangerous slide toward authoritarionsm and loss of our First Amendment Rights.

GREIG LEACH

Richmond, VA

Shiva pain sticks on paper, 45” x 60” x 1”inches, 2020.

$5,800

greigleach.com

This work centers on the protest of 2020 when our 250 year old democracy began its dangerous slide toward authoritarionsm and loss of our First Amendment Rights.

LISA LEVINE

Richmond, VA

Acrylic paint on cradle board, 30” × 30” x 1.5”, inches, 2022.

$425

lisalezelllevine.com

Community has always mattered to me-the solidarity among the everyday laymen, the gathering of independent people for a common cause, the places that matter to them, No matter how ordinary, it matters where people grow up, where they laugh, the feelings attached to their experiences as a whole. Many communities are failing because they are not supported and cared for. Yet, I see hope for our future. There are so many variables that promote the failure and success of a people. My paintings show an important struggle in the United States of America. Each painting illustrates hope, through my Artwork, I create scenes about the times we are witnessing in our Country. They are about individual freedoms and the right to exist as a people. This is our American Voice, we as a people have a right to basic necessities and a right to live in our country without persecution. My work reflects the mistreatments and intimidations of our country.

SARAH MENDEX

Damascus, MD

Oil on Canvas, 46” x 36” x 2” inches, 2025.

$2,000

As a woman, my body is under constant scrutiny; whether it’s from myself, men, or societal standards. Especially now, in this political climate, I feel as though as a Latina, my body is being monitored at uncomfortable levels. Knowing that these gazes are often leering, I chose to create compositions that put the viewer in the position of a voyeur. In Lucy Lippard’s book, From the Center “When women use their own bodies in their artwork, they are using their selves... a significant psychological factor converts these bodies or faces from object to subject.” By placing myself as both the subject and object in these environments, I reveal my awareness of the situations and environments I place myself in, no matter how boring. With each new painting, I am forcing the viewer to come up on a private moment, each more revealing than the last.

AMBER NELSON

Sarasota, FL

Oil on canvas, 66” × 48” X 1.5”inches, 2025.

$9,400

As a Burmese-Iranian-American painter, I’ve painted self-portraits over many years, capturing my unique American voice on canvas.

DIANA NEWTON

Carrboro NC

Acssembled Sculpture, 76” x 40” x 40” , 2023.

NFS

threesistersofroe.com

"At its paramount, the merging of art and activism provides the people with revolutionizing truth, exposing what must be exposed, and raising up what must be raised." --Patti Smith This quote speaks directly to my artistic approach. My goal is to offer a visual experience that can challenge one's worldview, perhaps lead to a reexamination of long-held beliefs, or spotlight jarring truths and inescapable realities. Reproductive choice was morally neutral and legal In colonial America until the 19th-century when it was criminalized. Furiana—an assembled sculpture that reimagines Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen,—addresses what happens to women when they are denied reproductive freedom. Her innate vitality has darkened and desiccated, turning even the lace and gems of her once regal Tudor garb into brittle decorations that reveal desperate options. Yet Furiana stands at the moment of transformation, igniting her spirit to defy further repression and channeling her rage to reclaim choice.

DIANA NEWTON

Carrboro, NC

Assembled sculpture, 76” x 40” x 40”, 2023.

NFS

threesistersofroe.com

"At its paramount, the merging of art and activism provides the people with revolutionizing truth, exposing what must be exposed, and raising up what must be raised." --Patti Smith This quote speaks directly to my artistic approach. My goal is to offer a visual experience that can challenge one's worldview, perhaps lead to a reexamination of long-held beliefs, or spotlight jarring truths and inescapable realities. Reproductive choice was morally neutral and legal In colonial America until the 19th-century when it was criminalized. Furiana—an assembled sculpture that reimagines Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen,—addresses what happens to women when they are denied reproductive freedom. Her innate vitality has darkened and desiccated, turning even the lace and gems of her once regal Tudor garb into brittle decorations that reveal desperate options. Yet Furiana stands at the moment of transformation, igniting her spirit to defy further repression and channeling her rage to reclaim choice.

T. OWENS UNION

Fairfield, PA

Digital collage, 17” X 14” x 1” inches, 2022

NFS

owensunion.com

Freedom requires that individual cultures, races, and identities be recognized and respected, and that the institutional policies that serve these communities are equitable. When this fails, cultural and racial inequalities develop in sectors including the legal system, healthcare, education, housing, and employment. An inaccurate and incomplete historical portrait of African Americans has regularly contributed to failures in these systems. My art utilizes digital collage to give current representation to those whose freedoms were too often erased. There is no better evidence of the devolution of freedom than the current systematic revision of American history across our national institutions, the vilification of immigrant communities, and the government sanctioned attacks on American cities and their citizens.

DAVID SCHWITTEK

Bedford Corners, NY

Fabric, direct to fabric ink, thread, 76” x 74” x 0” , 2026.

$1,200

schwittek.com

David Schwittek’s recent work explores the aesthetics of power, dissent, and state control through digitally generated imagery printed onto fabric. Drawing from visual languages associated with nationalism, policing, and mass spectacle, these pieces examine how authority is constructed, circulated, and internalized. Soft, wearable materials are used to echo the forms of banners, uniforms, and personal effects, complicating the boundary between individual identity and collective ideology. In the context of 250 Years of Expression, this work positions artistic production as a site of resistance—where images can confront dominant narratives, expose the fragility of political mythologies, and assert alternative voices. By engaging themes of surveillance, control, and public performance, the work reflects on freedom of expression as both a contested right and an active practice shaped through dissent.

EMRYS SHEVEK

Sacramento, CA

Silver Gelatin Print on Mat Board, 16” x 20” x 25”, 2026.

$500

I believe that protests are much more than signs, chants and raised fists, and there is value to be found in the often overlooked corners. My goal with these photos was to capture the character of Sacramento's collective resistance to the escalation of anti-immigrant violence in ways that spotlight the people who are not leading the march with a megaphone or in active confrontation with police, but who nonetheless contribute to the spirit of protest in small yet meaningful ways.

KARI SOUDERS

Gladwyne, PA

Fine Art Print of original art and digital images 18” x 24” x 5”, 2026.

$795

karisoudersartist.com

In a landscape of distorted realities and relentless noise, I use fragments of American flags to navigate the complexities of modern citizenship. These flags are more than canvases; they are totems of a democracy defined by its constant, often painful transformation. My work is a personal reclamation. I explore the duality of America’s borders—from the open doors that saved my family in the 1940s to the restrictive barriers of today. By deconstructing the iconic, I examine how basic human needs are manipulated into political static. If we are all collages stitched from memory and history, then these works are an attempt to find beauty and truth within the fraying edges of the American dream.

KARI SOUDERS

Gladwyne, PA

Fine Art Print of original art and digital images 18” x 24” x 5”, 2026.

$925

karisoudersartist.com

In a landscape of distorted realities and relentless noise, I use fragments of American flags to navigate the complexities of modern citizenship. These flags are more than canvases; they are totems of a democracy defined by its constant, often painful transformation. My work is a personal reclamation. I explore the duality of America’s borders—from the open doors that saved my family in the 1940s to the restrictive barriers of today. By deconstructing the iconic, I examine how basic human needs are manipulated into political static. If we are all collages stitched from memory and history, then these works are an attempt to find beauty and truth within the fraying edges of the American dream.

RAY STRATTON

Wise, VA

Mixed media - ceramics, handmade paper, relief print, pins, 28” x 11.5” x 11.5”, 2026.

$750

raystratton.com

This piece addresses issues and concerns brought about by the current administration. As a general rule I avoid politics like the plague, but the current situation is so outrageous that I feel compelled to address it with some of my artwork.

RAY STRATTON

Wise, VA

Mixed media - ceramics, handmade paper, relief print, 32.5” x 20” x 20”, 2026.

$1,000

raystratton.com

This piece addresses issues and concerns brought about by the current administration. As a general rule I avoid politics like the plague, but the current situation is so outrageous that I feel compelled to address it with some of my artwork.

STEFANO VIANI

Goettingen, UN NiedersachsenGermany

Canvas, 60cm x 40 cm x 2 cm, 2026.

$1,200

stefanoviani.com

I photograph people, machines, and landscapes at the moments when identity becomes visible—on the road, in clubs, at motorcycle gatherings, in cities, and in quiet, honest spaces. Mixing studio control with the unpredictability of the road and the weather, I turn riders, wanderers, and outsiders into characters in an ongoing visual story about freedom, risk, and self‑determination. I’m less interested in perfection than in presence: every image should feel alive and part of a larger story.

JAMIE VUONG

Stafford, VA

Video, 3:37, 2026

NFS

jamievuong.com

For my short experimental film, it portrays a personficiation of the Vietnamese Mekong region as she explores through the nature of Virginia's woodland and coastal environment, finding her estranged community members who left their hometown as a result of the Vietnam War. This film expresses the disonance that many Vietnamese refugees felt when they had to leave their place of upbringing to settle in a new place they are not familiar with. And to cope with it on top of it. This relationship is what makes one of the many narratives in America's 250-year history, especially when much of the Vietnamese refugees do not even know what their national identity is even anymore.

CORINNE WHITTEMORE

McAllen, TX

25.5” x 21” x 1”, 2024, 2024.

$800

My art is an exploration of identity and environment as well as a documentation of border culture. Border culture exists both in identifiable geographic areas and as a perceived and sacred internal space that visually and linguistically blends cultural experience and identity. Although this “blending” is sometimes viewed as negative, forceful, oppressive and/or stemming from colonialism, my experience is that while the combination is full of complexity and paradox, it is also beautiful. My art is a visual account of my hybrid border identity. A transcultural narrative from the female perspective. It is as much a personal documentation and exploration of my struggle to find, claim and embrace place and cultural identity as it is a visual account of the thriving culture unique to the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). I use photographs I've taken over a period of 15 years of areas along the border and in the RGV of flea markets, religious icons, popular culture and street and storefront signage.

CORINNE WHITTEMORE

McAllen, TX

19” x 15” x .0125”, 2024.

$700

My art is an exploration of identity and environment as well as a documentation of border culture. Border culture exists both in identifiable geographic areas and as a perceived and sacred internal space that visually and linguistically blends cultural experience and identity. Although this “blending” is sometimes viewed as negative, forceful, oppressive and/or stemming from colonialism, my experience is that while the combination is full of complexity and paradox, it is also beautiful. My art is a visual account of my hybrid border identity. A transcultural narrative from the female perspective. It is as much a personal documentation and exploration of my struggle to find, claim and embrace place and cultural identity as it is a visual account of the thriving culture unique to the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). I use photographs I've taken over a period of 15 years of areas along the border and in the RGV of flea markets, religious icons, popular culture and street and storefront signage.

LUYING XU

Alhambra, CA

Digital video and composite water image, 33.5” × 50.15”, 2026.

$300

This video and image-based work centers on the fountain at Franklin Square in Philadelphia as a reflection on Freedom, Dissent, and the American Voice. It begins in red, white, and blue, invoking a solemn national image, then slowly opens into a broader spectrum of color. For me, that shift speaks to America as something still unfolding, shaped not by one voice, but by many voices that question, expand, and redefine what belonging means. As an immigrant artist, I experience that transformation both publicly and personally. The first image is composed of 250 smaller images, marking 250 years of U.S. history. Together, the video and images suggest that a nation is formed through many presences, layered over time and made visible in public space.

LUYING XU

Alhambra, CA

Video, 5:30, 2026.

NFS

This video and image-based work centers on the fountain at Franklin Square in Philadelphia as a reflection on Freedom, Dissent, and the American Voice. It begins in red, white, and blue, invoking a solemn national image, then slowly opens into a broader spectrum of color. For me, that shift speaks to America as something still unfolding, shaped not by one voice, but by many voices that question, expand, and redefine what belonging means. As an immigrant artist, I experience that transformation both publicly and personally. The first image is composed of 250 smaller images, marking 250 years of U.S. history. Together, the video and images suggest that a nation is formed through many presences, layered over time and made visible in public space.