Originally Posted at:https://provost.uiowa.edu/news/2026/04/light-project-exhibit-illuminates-humanity-drug-addiction
Pentacrest Museums exhibition advances UI strategic plan by promoting learning, research, and engagement
More than 23,000 people visited the Old Capitol Museum in 2025 to experience Drug Addiction: Real People, Real Stories, an exhibit featuring original graphite portraits and accompanying biographies of Iowans lost to drug addiction. Created by the nonprofit INTO LIGHT Project, the exhibit helped humanize and destigmatize substance use disorder through art and storytelling.
The exhibit became more than a museum display. Through course visits, public programming, and community partnerships, it created opportunities for students, researchers, health professionals, and community members to engage with one of the most urgent public health challenges in the U.S.
“This exhibition has shown what is possible when art, education, and community come together with intention and care,” says Liz Crooks, director of Pentacrest Museums.
Art as experiential learning
Not only was the exhibit powerful for its humanizing portrayal of drug addiction, but many UI instructors across disciplines used the exhibit to add high-impact experiential learning to their curriculum. Students examined the artwork from many angles – such as exploring the role visual arts play in social change, studying addiction as a public health issue, and even the role music therapy can play in recovery.
Students in Abbey Dvorak’s Music Therapy undergraduate course visited the exhibit, and as a class assignment, were instructed to select a person featured and compose an original music piece based on that person’s life.
“The collaboration with the INTO LIGHT Project was an incredibly meaningful experience for everyone involved,” Dvorak says. “We hope the legacy songs the students created can help support families and celebrate the lives of their loved ones that were lost to addiction.”
A song written and recorded by UI music therapy graduate student Sherry Xia was played during the exhibit’s closing event. Xia credited the exhibit with making her more aware of substance use disorder and the stigma associated with it.
Reaching all Iowans
The exhibit’s impact extended well beyond the classroom. It was used to train UI Health Care professionals in the importance of non-stigmatized substance use disorder language and parts of the exhibit even traveled to Des Moines for state lawmakers to view.
When the exhibit concluded, the original portraits were given to nominating family members. However, thanks to a grant written by Dr. Alison Lynch, clinical professor of psychiatry in the Carver College of Medicine and director of the UI Iowa Addiction and Recovery Collaborative, a reproduction of the exhibit will travel to schools, hospitals, libraries, and community centers across Iowa. The traveling exhibit, called Continuing the Conversation, will include a curriculum to help schools and community organizations talk about opioid use disorder, addiction and recovery.
“I’m grateful to all the people who brought the INTO LIGHT Project exhibit to Iowa, including the national organization, the families who shared their loved ones’ stories, and the Pentacrest Museum,” Lynch says. “It was a labor of love. I’m proud we will be able to continue the conversation in Iowa and look forward to sharing this amazing exhibit with people across our state.”
About the INTO LIGHT Project
The INTO LIGHT Project was originally founded by Theresa Clower, whose son died of drug addiction in 2018. This national organization aims to change the conversation around drug addiction through the power of original artwork and storytelling to inspire social change. Clower, working with the University of California San Francisco, is helping digitally archive all the portraits and stories from across the country to preserve them as lasting research and educational resources.
