Pandemic reflections showcased in multimedia exhibition at Nevada Humanities Program Gallery in Vegas
Nevada Humanities presents Heart to Heart: Our Pandemic Stories, a new exhibition curated by Kathleen Kuo, Nevada Humanities Program Manager, from October 6 through November 22, 2022 at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, 1017 South 1st Street, #190, Las Vegas.
An in-person reception will take place on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, from 5 to 8 pm, and an exhibition discussion led by curator Kathleen Kuo will be held in Suite 150 adjacent to the gallery courtyard at 6 pm and simultaneously broadcast on Facebook Live. Space is limited and masks will be required regardless of vaccination status.
This multimedia exhibition draws from pieces shared by over 270 contributors across Nevada, aged 16 to 90, reflecting on their varied experiences throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with artwork, stories, essays, poetry, and more, a culmination of almost three years of collected stories. The exhibition showcases the hope and the resiliency of Nevadans during the isolation of the pandemic with the goal of inspiring more people to document and share their pandemic experiences. Nevadans are invited to contribute their pandemic stories to the Nevada Humanities Heart to Heart archive at nevadahumanities.org.
“When the COVID-19 lockdown began in March 2020, we realized that Nevadans desperately needed a way to communicate and share their pandemic experiences with each other to counteract the isolation of the lockdown,” said Christina Barr, Nevada Humanities Executive Director. “We envisioned Humanities Heart to Heart as an online resource where Nevadans from all walks of life could share essays, photographs, and creative works with each other that tell Nevada’s pandemic story in both broad and personal ways. This exhibition brings Humanities Heart to Heart to life and demonstrates how the humanities are lived in our communities and families. Our stories are the ties that bind us together with meaning and understanding.”
“It has been humbling to bear witness to the hundreds of stories shared by Nevadans about their pandemic experience through Humanities Heart to Heart,” said curator Kathleen Kuo. “When we could not gather together safely in-person, these stories connected us with one another and helped us to learn how others were navigating these times of crisis and extreme uncertainty. While all of the contributions to date can be viewed on our website at nevadahumanities.org, the exhibition offers a new way for the public to access and respond to these honest and heartfelt reflections on issues that matter to us all. I am thankful for our contributors who took the time to share a part of their story with us, and I look forward to hearing more from fellow Nevadans as they view our exhibition both online and in person.”
Heart to Heart: Our Pandemic Stories opens at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery in Las Vegas on October 6, 2022, and will be on display as a virtual exhibition indefinitely at nevadahumanities.org. This exhibition highlights stories from Nevada Humanities’ pandemic reflection program series, Humanities Heart to Heart, that was awarded the 2021 Helen and Martin Schwartz Prize for outstanding work in the public humanities — the highest honor awarded to humanities councils by the Federation of State Humanities Councils.
The exhibition will be open to the public for viewing by appointment only Tuesdays through Thursdays from 1 to 4 pm and until 9 pm the first Friday of the month for First Friday events at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, 1017 South 1st Street, #190 in Las Vegas. In-person viewing will close on November 23, 2022. Contact Bobbie Ann Howell at bahowell@nevadahumanities.org or 702-800-4670 to make a viewing appointment.
About Nevada Humanities: Nevada Humanities is one of 56 independent, nonprofit state and territorial humanities councils affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. With offices in Reno and Las Vegas, Nevada Humanities creates public programs and supports public projects statewide that define the Nevada experience and facilitate the exploration of issues that matter to the people of Nevada and their communities. For more information about Nevada Humanities visit nevadahumanities.org.