In a divided time, art helps us see what words can’t. Art of Repair invites anyone to nominate art and creative works — visual, musical, or poetic — that depict a polarized society, a depolarized society, or the lived space in between. Accepted works will anchor online small-group salons where participants reflect together on division, repair, and what it takes to carry us across the divide.
Anyone can nominate a visual or narrative work of art via a short form on the With Community site. Submissions must be viewable online. Each nominated piece is featured in a public Art Collection on the Depolarization Institute website. Artists are encouraged to self-nominate.
Once nominations begin, we’ll host small-group Zoom salons where participants can explore:
Rather than traditional voting, we’ll invite participants to engage, reflect, and lift up the pieces that resonate most—through conversation, sharing, and social signals. We’ll review insights from the salon conversations, social sharing, and written reflections to select featured pieces.
This kind of response allows us to track not just popularity, but meaningful engagement. Selections will be based on:
Cash and in-kind prizes will be awarded.
We live in a time when disagreement turns easily to distrust, and distrust hardens into division. Many people are retreating from dialogue. Some are retreating from each other. Polarization shows up in our relationships, our workplaces, our communities, our public square. It makes our lives harder to navigate and our problems harder to solve.
Depolarization Institute believes that images, sounds, and words have the power to reveal this dynamic — and to transform it. When we see polarization clearly, we can begin to loosen its grip. When we glimpse connection, we can find our way toward it.