The Zonta Club of Cincinnati, USA, and the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) hosted a collaborative community exhibition, Wounded Healers: Transforming Pain to Wholeness and Health. This unprecedented exhibition featured drawings, prints, photographs and paintings that depict the personal and painful journey of physical, emotional and spiritual abuse leading to healing, hope and wholeness.

The month-long exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, opened with a reception for the artists, their families, and guests on Thursday, 9 November. This inaugural exhibition included 21 art pieces from 15 diverse artists who responded to an open call hosted by the club and the Contemporary Arts Center.

“At the Contemporary Arts Center, we strive to engage with issues of our time,” says Shawnee Turner, Director of Interpretation. “Supporting the Zonta Club of Cincinnati on such a relevant matter that impacts so many lives in our community while seeking to make the world better through art—this is why we’re here.”

The dates of the exhibition were selected to coincide with the Zonta Says NO to Violence Against Women and 16 Days of Activism campaigns. To further promote the campaign, the club hosted a kickoff for the 16 Days of Activism and a panel discussion titled “The Journey Of Healing,” featuring a club member, an artist and a psychologist, who shared their experiences of abuse and their journey to find wholeness and health – all held in the exhibit space.

The artists were honored and appreciative of the opportunity to share their work. “I am blessed. I would have never believed I would be showing art at such a prestigious gallery,” artist Laurie Ann Altman shared.

Through this exhibit, the club hopes to empower artists from the Greater Cincinnati region to bring awareness to the lived experiences of those seeking a world where no one lives in fear of violence.