Three ArtPrize exhibitions center veterans, justice-involved young women and refugee children

Three Healing in Arts exhibitions are on view during ArtPrize in Grand Rapids through Oct. 3, using portraits, personal stories and collaborative art to highlight identity, resilience, belonging and hope. The shows invite visitors to look beyond labels and see veterans, justice-involved young women and refugee children as whole people.

Why it matters: - The three exhibitions use art to challenge one-dimensional labels and make room for the full lives of people often defined by a uniform, a record or refugee status. - The work connects public art to healing, dignity and community understanding during ArtPrize in Grand Rapids. - Healing in Arts is positioning art as a tool for connection across veterans, youth and refugee families.

What happened: - Three Healing in Arts exhibitions are now on view during ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, which runs through Oct. 3, 2026. - Visitors can see the exhibitions at venues throughout Grand Rapids for the rest of ArtPrize. - Healing in Arts is also directing people to follow the group for future exhibition dates and community events. - Art of Resilience is on view at Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Rapids. - This Is Me is presented at The Grey Rabbit Gallery. - Between Two Worlds Stories of Becoming is displayed in the green space across from DeVos Place at 300 Monroe Ave. in Grand Rapids.

The details: - Art of Resilience brings together veteran artwork and personal stories about military service, sacrifice, transition, disability, resilience and hope. - The exhibition includes Vietnam-era and post-9/11 veterans, women veterans, combat veterans, veterans with disabilities and amputations, veterans living with visible and invisible wounds, and veterans in their 90s. - Featured works include 250 Years 250 Stories, a floating mosaic painting with veterans' names and dates. - Another piece is a tile-top table assembled from personalized tiles created by 12 women veterans. - A 92-year-old veteran created a patriotic work by cutting and staining individual pieces of wood. - A Vietnam veteran who uses a wheelchair shares how paint-by-number projects help regulate his thought life, keep him focused on positive thoughts and keep him creating. - This Is Me features self-portraits created by justice-involved young women. - The self-portraits focus on identity, strength and hope. - The exhibition gives participants control over how they want to be seen rather than letting a record or difficult chapter define them. - Between Two Worlds Stories of Becoming uses portraits, collaborative artwork and an interactive component to explore how refugee children build identity while navigating cultures, memories, languages and changing ideas of home. - The exhibition looks beyond the circumstances that brought the children and their families to the United States. - The work frames belonging as something shaped through family, community, culture and personal experience.

Between the lines: - The three shows share a common argument: art can surface complexity that labels often erase. - Each exhibition turns personal history into public conversation. - The veteran work emphasizes service and aftermath, while the youth and refugee exhibitions focus on identity formation and self-definition. - Healing in Arts is using ArtPrize as a platform to reach a broad public audience with trauma-informed storytelling.

What's next: - ArtPrize continues through Oct. 3, giving visitors more time to see the exhibitions. - Healing in Arts plans future exhibition dates and community events. - The organization says its programs serve veterans and their families, justice-involved youth, children, individuals with disabilities and other communities through creative experiences. - More information is available at healinginarts.org.

The bottom line: - The exhibitions ask visitors to see people first and labels second, using art to make room for dignity, connection and hope.