Faces Not Forgotten, an exhibit that pays tribute to the victims of gun violence, will be on display April 5-25 at Southeast Missouri State Universitys Catapult Creative House.
An opening reception is scheduled for Friday, April 5, from 5-9 p.m. in the Catapult Creative House Gallery. Attendees are welcome to tour the entire Catapult facilities, including the Southeast Missouri State University Art Department students studios. In addition, there will be live printing in the Letter Press area adjacent to the Faces Not Forgotten exhibition.
In addition to the exhibit, there will be a panel discussion on Friday, April 5, from 7-9 p.m. on the second floor of Catapult Creative House. Christine Ilewski and representatives from Moms Demand Action will speak about the exhibition and their work with families affected by gun violence.
Faces Not Forgotten was founded by Christine Ilewski, who began the Faces Project by painting the portraits of children, 20 and under, who had died as the result of gun violence. Other artists joined her, and thanks, in part, to a Critical Mass Creative Stimulus grant, received in 2013, she continues to put a face to the youngest victims of gun violence.
Each artist paints a portrait of a child, based on a photograph supplied by the family. An image of the portrait is graphically superimposed onto a vintage handkerchief by Andrew Dobson and Carol Luc and printed on 16-by-20-inch canvas panels. These are then tied together with black ribbon in sets of nine, including eight portraits for the eight children that die each day from gun violence and one logo to create the Faces Not Forgotten quilts displayed in this exhibition.
The exhibition is sponsored by Moms Demand Action, a grass-roots, non-partisan movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence and keep families safe. Moms Demand Action works with survivors, mayors, law enforcement officers, faith leaders, educators, gun owners, doctors and communities across the country that know there is more that can be done to prevent gun violence.
Catapult Creative House is located at 612 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. All gallery exhibitions, events and talks are free and open to the public. For more information contact Leah Powers at lepowers@semo.edu or (573) 290-5372.