Alerts & Actions
Speaking Volumes Exhibition Returns to Montana as White Nationalism Escalates
Many folks are seeking ways to understand, respond, and transform the current divisive state of our communities. One remedy is coming to Helena this fall in the form of the Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate art exhibition and its accompanying programming. The story of Speaking Volumes began in 2003 when the Montana Human Rights Networks acquired over 4,100 white supremacist books from the defecting leader of a white nationalist group.
The Network conceived the idea of transforming the books into art that could be used as a tool to organize resistance to white nationalism. Helena’s Holter Museum of Art and activist-artist Katie Knight curated the new exhibition and brought the idea to life. Opening in 2008, the Human Rights Network and the Holter Museum jointly created Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate, which stimulates discussion about the dangers of anti-Semitism, violence, racism, homophobia, and bigotry.
After touring for a decade, Speaking Volumes is returning to Helena for a 10th Anniversary run at the Holter Museum of Art from October 5, 2018, through December 30, 2018. Numerous community organizations are also offering programs that highlight the goal of transforming hate. These partners include the Montana Human Rights Network, Holter Museum of Art, Lewis and Clark Library, Lewis and Clark Library Foundation, YWCA, Myrna Loy Center, Big Sky Unitarian Universalists, Plymouth Congregational Church, Helena Symphony, local educators, and activists. A list of the programmatic events, and more information about the exhibition, can be found at the newly-redesigned www.speakingvolumes.net.