How We Rebuild exhibit opens

On Friday, September 1, the Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center will open the Exhibits USA exhibit How We Rebuild in its galleries. This penetrating and transformative photography exhibition draws from twelve years of work created by grant winners and finalists from The Aftermath Project, a non-profit organization committed to telling the other half of war stories after the conflicts have ended—what it takes for individuals to rebuild destroyed lives and homes, to restore civil societies, and to recover the heartbeat of humanity.

How We Rebuild is organized into three sections: a prologue that features conflict and post-conflict photos from Bosnia, and lays out the origin story of The Aftermath Project; a suite of images by four photographers who explore historical American aftermaths; and an international “wall of humanity” featuring post-conflict images from around the world.

The photos selected for How We Rebuild have been curated as a way to center and reflect on the human stories and memories that define us. The exhibition will be supported by visual literacy frameworks and a plethora of public programming tools to help hosting venues plan meaningful community engagement—engagement focused on the roles that visual narratives can play in helping communities heal.

This beautiful assembly of images of hope, agency, and resilience includes work by Aftermath Project founder Sara Terry, war photographer Ron Haviv, 2019 grant winner Glenna Gordon, 2016 grant winner Nina Berman, 2012 grant winner Andrew Lichtenstein, 2010 finalist Jessica Hines and additional Aftermath Project grant winners and finalists.