Originally posted at: https://www.newscenter1.tv/sioux-falls-based-non-profit-teaming-up-with-ongoing-art-project-to-change-the-narrative-for-addiction-as-a-disease
SOUTH DAKOTA – A special exhibit using art to change the narrative around the disease of addiction and shine a light on those lost to it is set to open in Brookings, and officials need the public’s help to bring it to life.
Together with Sioux Falls-based non-profit Emily’s Hope, the “INTO LIGHT” project is asking South Dakota families to share the stories of their loved ones lost to addiction. It features hand-drawn sketches of people’s loved ones and a detailed description about who they were.
A survey done with people after seeing the exhibit showed over eighty percent of them experienced a deeper understanding and a shift in opinion of addiction as a disease.
“I lost my daughter Emily to fentanyl poisoning, and she was a very prolific artist,” Founder of Emily’s Hope Angela Kennecke said. “She left me with 29 paintings, painted objects, several pieces of pottery, and we’ve lost so many artists in this way, and musicians, and writers, and I just think it’s so important to preserve people and their stories in a creative, life-affirming way.”
30 submissions are needed from families featuring a loved one lost to addiction, which Kennecke says is on a first-come first-serve basis . The submission window is open from now through November 1, with the display opening next February at the South Dakota Art Museum. “We’d like everyone represented, including Native American families whose rates of overdose deaths are about four times higher than the rest of the population, so we want to see everyone represented in this exhibit, and it’s open to anybody in South Dakota who’s lost a loved one to substances.”
