Somewhere We Are Human (Spring 2025)

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 Spring 2025, 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, 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.

March 2025

Thursday, March  6, 6:00pm

Partner Event_Millions of Conversations: The Show 

The Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice is happy to announce the start of a new project by our partner, Millions of Conversations.

Millions of Conversations: The Show explores the issues shaping Tennessee communities, from the impact of AI to the trust gap in healthcare, through thought-provoking discussions highlighting shared values over division. Join host Samar Ali as she engages with local voices and experts to inspire hope, foster belonging, and spark meaningful change.

Episode 1 of the Millions of Conversations show: “The Transformative Power of Art and Love” features EADJ’s Founder, Professor Campos-Pons. The episode airs tonight on NewsChannel 5+ at 6 p.m.!

Reruns will air on Saturdays at 2:30 p.m. We’re incredibly grateful for your partnership and support throughout this journey.

You can watch the episode live on Comcast Channel 250 and Charter Channel 180. You can also stream it on NewsChannel5 NOW on Roku, Apple TV, fire TV, and androidtv.

See the link to the full broadcast here: https://www.newschannel5.com/plus/millions-of-conversations

Sunday, March 23, 3:00- 5:00pm

Partner Event_ Nowruz Celebration

NIRMA Project PRESENTS in Collaboration with the Frist Art Museum

This event features the NIRMA (Nashville Immigrant and Refugee Music and Art) Ensemble and Guest Musicians

This event is dedicated to NICE Nashville International Center for Empowerment), supporting their mission to serve and empower Nashville’s diverse communities.Join us as we celebrate them and the diversity, community, and the arrival of Spring!

Experience Middle Eastern hospitality through Haftsin. Set-up, tea, coffee and traditional delights by Louisa Shafia and Mitra Najafzadeh.

The event is generous support provided by: The Frist Art Museum, The Curb Center at Vanderbilt University, and the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (EADJ).

Event Details: 

• Location: Frist Art Museum, 919 Broadway Nashville, TN

• Admission: Free and open to the public.

Monday, March 24 – Saturday, March, 29, 2025.

Partner Events__Caribbean Week at Vanderbilt University 

Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) invites students, faculty, and the greater Nashville community to join in the celebration of the first-ever Caribbean Week from March 24 to March 29, 2025. This landmark event promises a dynamic series of discussions, cultural activities, and community-building opportunities highlighting the rich heritage, history, and contemporary issues of the Caribbean and its diaspora.

Caribbean Week is designed to foster thoughtful engagement on topics of culture, politics, and identity, with a special focus on the African Diaspora in the Caribbean. It will also provide an opportunity to highlight the importance of Caribbean Studies in the global and academic contexts, including the upcoming launch of the Caribbean Studies minor, a CLACX program expected to begin in the next semesters. We hope this initiative will strengthen ties across Vanderbilt and the broader Nashville community while creating a meaningful space for dialogue and connection. We are excited to collaborate with campus and community partners to make this event impactful and inspiring on academic, cross-institutional, and community engagement levels.

Schedule Highlights

The week features a wide range of engaging events, including:

Monday, March 24

“Rulers & Revolutionaries: The Epic Lives of Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri Christophe, Haiti’s First Emperor and King”with Dr. Julia Gaffield (William & Mary) and Dr. Marlene Daut (Yale University).

Central Library’s Community Room, 4:30 – 6:00 PM. Reception to follow

Tuesday, March 25

“Biography as Liberation: The Lives of Louis-Joseph Janvier and Madamme Suzanne Simone Baptiste Louverture in the Struggle for Haitian Sovereignty and Black Visibility” with Dr. Chelsea Stieber (Tulane University) and Dr. Robin Mitchell (The University at Buffalo), moderated by Professor Brandon Byrd (Vanderbilt History and AADS).

Central Library’s Community Room, 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

Thursday, March 27

Vanderbilt CSA Students Panel and Luncheon

CSA students sharing their career trajectories and future plans while at VU.

VCL Satellite at Rothschild College, 12:00 – 1:00 PM.

Box lunches for attendees

Film Screening of “Chèche Lavi.”

“Chèche Lavi is a lyrical portrait of two Haitian migrants, Robens and James, who find themselves stranded at the U.S.- Mexico border with no way forward and no one to rely on but each other.”

Buttrick Hall 103, 5:00 – 7:30 PM.

Friday, March 28

HBCU Caribbean Connections Panel in Collaboration with Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State University.

Begonia Labs, 5:00 – 6:00 PM.

Begonia Labs is located at 2805 West End Ave.

CLACX x EADJ Open House and Opening Reception for Between Rivers and Revolutions, an exhibition by Vanessa Charlot.

Begonia Labs, 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

Begonia Labs is located at 2805 West End Ave.

Saturday, March 29

Between Rivers and Revolutions – Vanessa Charlot in Conversation with Grace Aneiza Ali and Katie Delmez

Frist Art Museum, 10:30 AM – 12:00 PM.

Frist Art Museum: 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.

CSA Carnival Celebration.

Vanderbilt University’s Alumni Lawn, 1:00 – 4:00 PM.

Friday, March 28, 6:00- 8:00pm

Opening Reception for the exhibition Between Rivers and Revolutions by Vanessa Charlot

Event Details: 

• Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.
• Admission: Free and open to the public. 

The Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice is partnering with the Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies (CLACX) Program during Vanderbilt’s first Caribbean Week. See here the full list of events for Caribbean Week 2025. 

Saturday, March 29, 2025 from 10:30 – 11:30 am.

Conversation with Haitian American artist, Vanessa Charlot

Join Haitian American artist and photographer Vanessa Charlot for a conversation with Grace Aneiza Ali, curator of the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (EADJ) at Vanderbilt University, and Katie Delmez, Frist Art Museum Senior Curator.

Charlot’s exhibition Between Rivers and Revolutions is currently on view at EADJ’s Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.

Through her lens, Charlot explores the intersections of Black identity, migration, and spirituality, moving between the waters of the Mississippi Delta, Haiti’s shores, and Florida’s coastlines.

Presented in collaboration with the Engine for Art, Democracy, and Justice, this conversation has been planned in conjunction with the Frist’s current exhibition What the Body Carries, featuring Haitian American artists M. Florine Démosthène and Didier William, whose work explores how they navigate spaces beyond Haiti while remaining deeply informed by the country’s cultural and spiritual traditions.

Event Details: 

• Frist Art Museum: 919 Broadway, Nashville, TN 37203.
• Admission: Free and open to the public. There is no charge to attend the conversation. If guests wish to see the current exhibitions on view, Frist Art Museum admission applies.
• Event Link for more details.

February 2025

Thursday, February  13, 6:00pm

Partner Event_ Mano Kahlil’s North American Screening Tour of the film ‘Neighbours’

Vanderbilt University, Buttrick Hall, Room 103.

Hosted by the Kurdish Culture and Music Association (KCMA), Vanderbilt University’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts, and NIRMA projects.

The Department of Cinema & Media Art, in collaboration with the NIRMA Project at Vanderbilt, presents Mano Khalil’s North American Screening Tour, featuring a film screening and panel discussion. The panel discussion will include Mano Khalil and Allison Inman with Sina Mirzaei as moderator.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, February  19, 5:30 – 8:00pm ***Postponed to April 2025

Partner Event__Then and Now: The North African Communities in Nashville

Nashville Public Library, Conference Center. 615 Church Street, Nashville, TN, 37219

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 February 19th, bringing together the voices of Nashville’s North African 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.

See the event program pdf for more details:VU NPL Project_Flyer – N. Africa (2.19.25)

Event Details: 

• Location: Nashville Public Library – Main Library (615 Church Street, Nashville, 37219) 

• Date: Wednesday, February 19th ***Postponed to April 2025

• Admission: Free and open to the public. Use this link to RSVP.  

• 5:30 p.m. – Program Begins 

• 8:00 p.m. – Program Ends

Wednesday, February 19, 2025 at 4:10pm.***Postponed

Partner Event_…no foot prints, even. Artist lecture with Jessica Houston. 

Part of Studio VU: The Vanderbilt Department of Art Lecture Series for 2024-2025.

Cohen Memorial Hall, Room 203.

About the Artist

Jessica Houston is a multidisciplinary artist whose hybrid practice spans photography, oral histories, painting, and video to explore climate change in the polar regions. Since 2008, when she was invited by the UK organization Cape Farewell on an Arctic expedition, Houston has collaborated with communities in Resolute Bay and Pond Inlet, Nunavut, and carried out projects in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Working with people across disciplines, Houston’s research-based practice invites reflection on the deep time of ice and the interconnection between human and natural systems. By celebrating the beauty and complexity of the polar regions, Houston’s work offers a meditative reminder of humanity’s place within the vast geological and ecological cycles of the Earth.

Learn more about the ...no foot prints, even. exhibition at the Vanderbilt Museum of Art.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

Saturday, February  22, 1 – 4:00pm

Artist Skill Share 

Begonia Labs: 2805 West End Avenue, Nashville, TN.

Join us for a hands-on “Skill Share” event featuring the artists from the Where Are We? exhibition. Visitors will be able to discuss the artworks in the exhibition with Jerry Phillips, Alena Mehic, and Delanyo Mensah, and participate in art-making activities inspired by personal histories and family narratives.

Learn to fold origami boats with Jerry Phillips and have the opportunity to contribute to his art installation. Bring a family photograph, document, or family artifact to help recreate a trompe l’oeil artwork with Alena Mehic. Dive into mixed media with Delanyo Mensah and create a collage and poem using family photographs and collage materials.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own source materials for the trompe l’oeil activity with Alena Mehic and the collage and poem activity with Delanyo Mensah. However, you are also welcome to use the supplies provided.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

Where Are We?

Closing reception scheduled for February 28, 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.

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.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

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

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

Where Are We? Opening Reception

On view January 14, 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.

Thursday, January 23, 7:30pm

Far East, Deep South Screening

Sarratt Cinema, 1st Floor | 2301 Vanderbilt Pl, Nashville, TN 37240

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 Chan and 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.