Somewhere We Are Human (Spring 2025)
Right: James Kuol Makuac giving a tour of the exhibition to Vanderbilt students. Photo: EADJ Team.
The 2024–2025 Public Programs and Engagement Series of Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (EADJ) at Vanderbilt University is organized around the thematic north star — Somewhere We Are Human — a collective vision for a time and space where no one’s humanity is ever in question.
For Fall 2024, the series looks at the city of Nashville and the American South through a lens of migration, exploring the ways immigrant communities have shaped the region’s history and are envisioning its future through art and activism. Via exhibitions, conversations, community meals, film screenings, readings, research, and education programs, Somewhere We Are Human gathers local and global artists, curators, writers, filmmakers, educators, scholars, chefs, and community leaders invested in being catalysts for equity, democracy, and justice.
Somewhere We Are Human is conceived and organized by Curator Grace Aneiza Ali with the leadership of Professor María Magdalena Campos-Pons, EADJ Founder and Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Art and support of the EADJ Team, Dr. Claudine Taaffe, Associate Director, Danielle Myers, Program Manager, and Simon Tatum, Program Coordinator.
*Somewhere We Are Human takes its title from the anthology gathering voices on migration, survival, and new beginnings, edited by Reyna Grande and Sonia Guiñansaca.
Click here for a calendar of all Spring 2025 events.
January 2025
Wednesday, January 15, 5:30 – 8:00pm
Partner Event__Then and Now: The Gulf States
As part of its current program is Somewhere We Are Human—a vision for a time and space where no one’s humanity is in question—EADJ is collaborating with Then and Now, a series of conversations hosted by Vanderbilt University and the Nashville Public Library Special Collection. These conversations explore the history and impact of cultural communities in Nashville through the work of noted historians and the personal stories of community members. EADJ has contributed by promoting the voices of artists, writers, and cultural practitioners within the Then and Now series and co-curating a Reading List that will be featured at the Library.
Then and Now will continue this January with an event at the Nashville Public Library on January 15th, bringing together the voices of Nashville’s African Gulf States community. The event will be a co-moderated discussion with Samar Ali and Dr. André L. Churchwell.
Samar Ali is the Founding President of Millions of Conversations (an EADJ Partner Organization) and a Vanderbilt Research Professor of Political Science and Law. Dr. André L. Churchwell is the Senior Advisor on Inclusion and Community Outreach at Vanderbilt University.
A special trailer of JACIR will also be shared during the event. Jacir ( جاسر) is a film that looks through the eyes of a Syrian refugee as he faces the harsh realities of chasing the American dream while living in poverty on the streets of Memphis. English, Arabic. 105 min. It is written and produced by Waheed AlQawasmi. Earlier this Fall, Jacir ( جاسر) was screened for EADJ’s Migration in Film program in collaboration with INTERNATIONAL LENS at Vanderbilt’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts.
Event Details:
- Location: Nashville Public Library – Main Library (615 Church Street, Nashville, 37219)
- Date: Wednesday, January 15th
- Admission: Free and open to the public. Use this link to RSVP.
- 5:30 p.m. – Program Begins
- 8:00 p.m. – Program Ends
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Thursday, January 16, 7 pm
Reading with Aimee Nezhukumatathil
In partnership with the Vanderbilt Department of English and Creative Writing Program’s Gertrude and Harold Vanderbilt Reading Series
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the New York Times best-selling illustrated collection of nature essays, World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks & Other Astonishments. Honors include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and The John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Her most recent book of food essays is called Bite By Bite.
*EADJ’s Narrative Change reading series highlights global and local writers whose work engages migrant stories.
Begonia Labs | 2805 West End Ave, Nashville, TN 37203
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Where Are We? Opening Reception
On view January 13, 2025–March 7, 2025
Opening reception scheduled for January 17, 2025 from 6-8pm.
Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.
Where Are We? invites us to reflect on time, place, and the future with curiosity. Featuring IMGRNT (Arash Shoushtari), Alena Mehic, Jerry Bedor Phillips, and Delanyo Mensah—whose roots span Iran, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Palau, and Ghana—the exhibition reassembles memory to reclaim the present and imagine new futures. These artists draw on family narratives, archival images, and personal histories to explore the complexities of migration and belonging.
The title evokes both disorientation and possibility, suggesting a threshold where boundaries blur and curiosity emerges. The question extends beyond physical place, probing the relationship between heritage, time, and transformation. The artists reject static notions of identity, offering layered realities that merge memory with reinvention.
Through worldbuilding, the artists move beyond survival, imagining new spaces for connection. They transform cultural symbols—origami boats, Persian rug motifs, postcards, and intergenerational portraits—honoring maternal figures and ancestral legacies. Their work shows that the immigrant experience is not merely adaptation but the creation of spaces where histories converge and futures are forged.
Where Are We? is guest curated by Sai Clayton as part of the Begonia |Curatorial Lab, a mentorship program fostering dialogue and curatorial exchange in the Global South(s). It is part ofSomewhere We Are Human, the 2024-25 Public Programs and Engagement series of the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice at Vanderbilt University, supported by the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation.
Learn more about the exhibition here.
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Thursday, January 23, 7:30pm
Far East, Deep South Screening
In partnership with INTERNATIONAL LENS at Vanderbilt’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts
Far East, Deep South is an award-winning feature documentary produced by Larissa Lam and Baldwin Chiu, a husband-wife music and filmmaking team based in Los Angeles, CA. The film is based off the award-winning short film, Finding Cleveland. The film was written and directed by Larissa Lam. It was edited by Dwight Buhler with music by world renown composer, Nathan Wang.
The film is told in a cinéma vérité style and also features interviews with notable leaders such as Congresswoman Judy Chu, former Mayor of Pace, MS, Levon Jackson, Chinese American Citizens Alliance Past President, Carolyn Chanand historians like Gordon Chang (Stanford History Department and author of The Chinese and the Iron Road), John Jung (author of Chopsticks in the Land of Cotton) and Jane Hong (author of Opening the Gates to Asia).
Film Synopsis:
“A Chinese American family’s search for their roots leads them to the Mississippi Delta, where they stumble upon surprising family revelations and uncover the racially complex history of the Chinese in the segregated South. Far East Deep South (Run time: 76 minutes) presents a personal and eye-opening perspective on race, immigration, and American identity. It sheds light on the history of Chinese immigrants living in the American South during the late 1800s to mid-1900s through the emotional journey of Charles Chiu and his family as they travel from California to Mississippi to find answers about his father, K.C. Lou. Along the way, they meet a diverse group of local residents and historians who help them discover how deep their roots run in America. The film also explores the interconnected relationship between the Black and Chinese communities in the Jim Crow era and the generational impact of discriminatory immigration policies, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act.” – Larissa Lam
Learn more about the film here.
*EADJ’s Migration in Film centers the voices of filmmakers and subject matters related to the immigrant experience. This screening is in collaboration with INTERNATIONAL LENS at Vanderbilt’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts, which encourages conversation and greater cross-cultural understanding through cinema.
Sarratt Cinema, 1st Floor | 2301 Vanderbilt Pl, Nashville, TN 37240