At the present, two exhibits are available for short and long-term engagement:
Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth >
Sacred Images: A Vision of Native American Rock Art >
“Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth” is an award-winning display of 30 portraits and interviews with youth who have survived unimaginable circumstances. Jeremiah Atem tells of the enduring hope that kept him alive throughout his escape from religious persecution in the Sudan. Muna Ali, born in Somalia, describes the situation of being “homeless.” “Even though we have a place to live,” the teen says, “in our hearts we don’t have a home, there is nowhere to go back to.”
Between 1994 and 1999, an estimated 1,834 youth, given refugee status and assistance from the U.S. government, immigrated to Utah from approximately twenty-two different countries in six geographical regions. “This display was created to tell the stories of these youth. I believe their stories allow us to see them and know them, so that we can teach and nurture them as they teach and nurture us,” explains school social worker and project director, Dr. Joyce Kelen.
Originally developed for 2002 Cultural Olympiad, “Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth” focuses on refugee youth who were attending Salt Lake City schools between 2000 and 2002. The exhibit is organized into three sections—“Flight,” “Haven,” and “Heartache and Hope”—to reflect the fact that refugee youth have experienced three interrelated phases in their journey from their countries of origin to the United States.
In 2002 “Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth” received the Utah Education Association’s Charles E. Bennett Award for Human and Civil Rights. In 2003 it was awarded the National Education Association’s Applegate-Dorros Prize for Peace and International Understanding. Photographs for this project were taken by CDA’s director of photography Kent Miles. Exhibit text was prepared by CDA’s executive director Leslie Kelen and project director Dr. Joyce Kelen.
The traveling exhibit also includes:
Downloads “Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth” Exhibit:
Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth: A Curriculum Guide for Teachers and Counselors Grades K - 6 ›
Faces and Voices of Refugee Youth: A Curriculum Guide for Secondary School Teachers and Counselors ›
Developed between 1993 and 1995, “Sacred Images: A Vision of Native American Rock Art” brings together the talents of three Utah wilderness photographers and the storytelling skills of its indigenous peoples to present the visionary power of Utah’s world class rock art.
Utah has long been known for its spectacular landscapes. But not as many people realize that Utah’s prehistoric and historic rock art is equally as impressive. In fact, Utah has thousands of rock art sites, including a large number of the finest panels to be found anywhere in the world.
Whether pecked or painted on stone, at least four distinct styles of rock art can be seen in Utah—including the oldest documented Barrier Canyon style—representing an art-making tradition with a time span of at least 8,000 years.
“Sacred Images” presents some of the most dramatic examples of Utah’s rock art in an exhibit of twenty-two color photographs and wall text created by photographers Craig Law, Tom Till, and John Telford and project curator David Sucec.
Originally presented as an eighty-seven image display for Utah’s state centennial in 1996, this traveling exhibit introduces Utah’s four major rock-art styles (Barrier Canyon, Hisatsenom/ Anasazi, Fremont, and Ute) and conveys the remarkable power of these images that Pulitzer Prize wining author N. Scott Momaday describes as, “the beginning of art in America and the origin of American literature.”
The exhibit also includes the following:
