Vision Quilt is excited to join artists from the Soul Box Project for "Art Revealing the Gunfire Epidemic," an upcoming exhibition at the Multnomah Arts Center Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Soul Boxes are origami boxes commemorating lives lost to gun violence -- on February 15, 2019, the project brought 36,000 Soul Boxes to the Oregon State Capitol Building. Like Vision Quilt, Soul Boxes are a powerful way of responding to the gun violence epidemic through grassroots art. 

Participants in the Soul Box Project design and create an origami box made from two 8.5 inch pieces of paper. Like Vision Quilt panels, Soul Boxes are a simple way to make a powerful statement, and anyone can participate. Over 44,000 Soul Boxes have been created since the project began in October 2017, and they plan to collect 200,000 boxes in total by 2020. In the United States, over 35,000 people are killed by gun violence each year. 

Vision Quilt and Soul Box are kindred projects and we are excited to partner together for this upcoming exhibition -- we hope you will join us. Together our work provides spaces for healing while providing a clear message that this country's gun violence epidemic must be stopped. 

The Multnomah Arts Center Gallery exhibition opens on April 5 with an opening reception from 7-9pm. The show will run through the month of April. The Multnomah Arts Center is located at 7688 SW Capitol Highway in Portland, Oregon. For more information, call the center at (503) 823-2787. 

We’re pleased to announce that Vision Quilt’s short film focused on our work at Lighthouse Community Charter School was selected for inclusion in the SAQA exhibition. The students created Vision Quilt panels and then organized a community exhibition in downtown Oakland, California, as part of their three-month unit focused on gun violence. ​​

The intention of Guns: Loaded Conversations is to spark conversation and make bridges across an often polarized conversation. “Artists have been a catalyst for difficult societal conversations throughout history,” says the exhibition website. “Guns: Loaded Conversations seeks to engage viewers of differing opinions to listen to each other and to encourage community initiatives that may inspire action in seeking solutions.”

We hope to see you at the exhibition opening later this month or at an exhibition near you! ​