In our world today, TV, movies, and other mass media tend to magnify the importance of a few famous individuals (TV, music, and movie stars, sports personalities, government leaders, etc) over the rest of us. Sometimes we forget that each one of us is as much a part of our world as anyone else. And in learning about cultures, our everyday lives can provide a more accurate view of our culture than focusing on mass media icons and events.

For this show, we asked participating students to illustrate an aspect of their culture that they felt was worth sharing with their partners. It could be something that was unique or special to their culture or something that happened everyday. It could be something they were proud of or something in their society that they were concerned about. The artist could even choose to portray a culturally revealing scene from the past or the future.

Whatever aspect the artist chose, we asked that each artist place himself or herself somewhere in the piece. The artist could appear as an active participant in, or as a spectator of, the activity or scene he or she depicted. The artist could choose to include all of himself or herself, or just one part (a head, an arm, etc.) The artist was asked to identify where he or she appeared in his/her piece in the artist description that accompanied that piece.

This exhibit includes pieces created by children attending mainstream to special education classrooms working with VSA arts affiliate schools and centers around the world. Look for the VSA arts logo that accompany these pieces.