• LIMITED CALL FOR ARTISTS

    What We Carry — A Community Art Exhibition & Dialogue

    An artist-led exhibition + social practice activation presented by Niki Lopez and What’s Your Elephant™

    Submission Deadline: Friday, July 24, 2026, 11:59 PM EST

    Exhibition Dates: August 21 – September 10, 2026
    Opening Reception: Friday, August 21, 2026
    Location: 1310 Gallery, Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts, Fort Lauderdale, FL
    Artist Notifications: Thursday, July 30, 2026
    Artwork Drop-Off: August 15–17, 2026
    Installation: August 18–20, 2026

    About the Exhibition
    What We Carry: A Community Art Exhibition & Dialogue is an artist-led exhibition and community activation presented by Niki Lopez in partnership with What’s Your Elephant™, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that uses the arts to address the unspoken.

    Rooted in visual art, social practice, storytelling, and collective reflection, What We Carry explores the emotional, cultural, ancestral, political, and personal weight we hold — and the ways creativity helps us name, transform, release, and reimagine what lives within us.

    The exhibition brings together selected works by Niki Lopez alongside invited and selected artists whose practices engage themes of identity, memory, healing, belonging, resistance, grief, visibility, care, ancestry, transformation, and what we are learning to hold differently.

    This project is not only about trauma or hardship. It is also about what sustains us: beauty, breath, ritual, creativity, community, humor, softness, spirit, memory, and the possibility of being held.

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  • Will you be available for the opening night: Friday, August 21, 6 - 9PM*
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  • Submission Details

    Artists are invited to submit 3–5 available works for consideration. Works do not need to be newly created for this exhibition, but they should connect to the theme in a thoughtful way.

    The exhibition is open to a variety of media, including painting, drawing, photography, mixed media, collage, fiber/textile, digital art, sculpture, installation, poetry or text-based visual work, video, sound, and interactive work.

    All work must be original, exhibition-ready, and suitable for public display. Two-dimensional work must be wired, framed if needed, or otherwise prepared to hang safely. Artists submitting video, sound, digital, sculptural, or installation-based work must provide all required equipment and display materials unless otherwise agreed in writing.

    Selected artists are responsible for delivery and pickup of their artwork from 1310 Gallery in Fort Lauderdale.

    Fees
    There is no mandatory fee to submit.

    A suggested donation of $20 is welcome to help offset exhibition and production costs, but it is not required and will not affect selection.

    Donations may be made here:
    https://givebutter.com/wye_whatwecarry

     

    Theme Guidance
    Submitted artwork should fit or complement the theme:

    What We Carry: A Community Art Exhibition & Dialogue

    Artwork may explore the emotional, cultural, ancestral, political, and personal weight we hold — and the ways creativity helps us name, transform, release, and reimagine what lives within us.

    Submissions may interpret the theme through personal, cultural, emotional, spiritual, ancestral, political, or social lenses.

    We are especially interested in work that carries emotional truth, lived experience, reflection, or social meaning — not only visual beauty, but the story, feeling, or question beneath it.

    Possible themes include:

    • Identity
    • Memory
    • Healing
    • Belonging
    • Grief
    • Resistance
    • Visibility
    • Care
    • Ancestry
    • Body as archive
    • Inner peace
    • Joy
    • Softness
    • Celebration
    • Rest and restoration
    • Survival and transformation
    • Language, erasure, and naming the unspoken
    • What we inherit
    • What we release
    • What we are learning to hold differently

    This exhibition is not only about trauma or hardship. It is also about what sustains us: beauty, breath, ritual, creativity, community, humor, softness, spirit, memory, and the possibility of being held.

    Artist Terms & Conditions
    Artists must review and agree to the full 2026 What We Carry Artist Terms & Conditions before submitting.

    Please read the linked Terms & Conditions carefully and complete the required agreement checkbox below.

  • Are you open to having one or more submitted works considered for the optional fundraiser/small works component?
  • Click to read the 2026 What We Carry Artist Terms & Conditions

  • Activations & Community Experiences


    Opening Reception — Friday, August 21, 2026
    A public opening evening featuring visual art, community reflection, invited artists, and a focused invitation to support What’s Your Elephant™.

    Interactive Reflection Installation — Ongoing during exhibition
    A participatory element inviting visitors to contribute words, reflections, memories, or responses connected to what they carry, what they are releasing, and what they want to see named, protected, or remembered.

    What’s Your Elephant™ Collage-Making Workshop + Community Chat — Date TBD
    A signature What’s Your Elephant™ creative wellness experience using collage, writing, visual expression, and facilitated conversation to explore the question: What are we carrying?

    Optional Sound / Stillness / Healing Gathering — Date TBD, pending partner support
    A gentle gallery-based experience incorporating sound, stillness, reflection, and collective care.

  • About the Curator


    Niki Lopez is an award-winning Afro-Latina, queer interdisciplinary visual artist, curator, and social practitioner based in South Florida. Her work blends visual storytelling, cultural symbolism, and social practice to create spaces for reflection, dialogue, and collective care.

    Lopez is the founder of What’s Your Elephant™, a 501(c)(3) arts and education nonprofit that uses creativity to address the unspoken and create space for healing, storytelling, and social connection. For nearly two decades, her projects have merged art, advocacy, mindfulness, and community engagement — inviting communities to transform vulnerability into visibility and creativity into social impact.

    nikilopez.art

     

    About What’s Your Elephant


    What’s Your Elephant™ is a 501(c)(3) arts and education nonprofit that uses creativity to address the unspoken through exhibitions, workshops, interactive art experiences, and community dialogue.

    Founded in 2014 and officially established as a nonprofit in 2023, What’s Your Elephant™ creates spaces for healing, storytelling, emotional wellness, social connection, and collective care. Its work centers mental health, LGBTQ+ identity, social justice, gender equity, cultural storytelling, and the power of art to transform silence into dialogue.

    whatsyourelephant.org

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