A new exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center shines a light on an oft-ignored population in Cincinnati.
Titled “Voices Unheard: Art, Identity and Experience,” the project is a collaboration between the CAC, Cincinnati Public Schools and Hamilton County Juvenile Court to showcase the perspectives of children currently detained in the city’s Youth Detention Center.
“At the Youth Center, all of our classrooms have become important spaces for detained kids,” said CPS art teacher Penny Harris. “They’re places where the kids can be creative, feel heard and valued. We reinforce to them that their voice matters and despite their circumstance, their futures hold promise.”
Each piece—the exhibition is made up of photographs, creative writing and music— reflects personal stories of identity, resilience, rehabilitation and growth shaped by the students’ lived experiences as they worked with teachers to express their deepest feelings.
“Sometimes these students are just put somewhere and forgotten. And one of our jobs here at the CAC is to champion voices that might not always be heard and to tell everyone’s stories, not just the prominent ones,” said Elizabeth Hardin-Klink, the CAC’s director of education. “The work that these teachers and students are doing is phenomenal. It’s important to us to showcase their voices, and to show that these students have so much to give and so much potential.”
Hardin-Klink said the project came about after Storm Boyd—the president of Hamilton County Young Democrats, the head of engagement at the Juvenile Court, and a CAC board member—approached her about taking a tour of the art classrooms at the detention center. She said the opportunity was “thrilling,” and after meeting with educators and students, she was “blown away” by their work.
The exhibition will feature over 90 works from CPS students inside the detention center—although that number will likely go up, as Hardin-Klink got a text during the interview that the school was dropping off two more later in the day.
When audiences view the exhibit, she hopes they come away with a sense of empathy for the children stuck inside the detention center.
“There are so many stories out there that are unheard and often uncelebrated or not even celebrated at all. And I think we could all, gosh, just have so much more empathy in our community in general by putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes when they’re in a difficult position,” Hardin-Klink said.
She took special care to shout out Harris, the center’s art teacher who has been with CPS for over 30 years; Andrea Spenny, the English teacher responsible for the creative writing works; and Aimee James, the music teacher who has put in “hours and hours” of work on video editing alone, noting that each and every teacher who participated in curating the exhibition worked on the project during their free time after school hours with the goal of properly advocating for their students.
“So many teachers do really hard work every single day, and I feel like it’s often not championed very well,” Hardin-Klink said. “For me, it’s not just about highlighting the work that the students are doing, but the work that the teachers are putting in, too. They care so much about their students, and it really shows through here.”
The opening reception for “Voices Unheard: Art, Identity and Experience” is May 15, at the Contemporary Arts Center, which is located at 44 E 6th St. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the CAC’s official website.
