UNMASKING: Now We Speak
November 2022UNMASKING: Now We Speak was a Mark Making visual art, creative writing, and performance project focusing on men and women with addiction and mental health issues who are in the Hamilton County Mental Health Court Sexual Trauma Track program or have been or are now incarcerated at the Silverdale Detention Center. The participants’ art and stories are the result of a year-long workshop series in which they worked with storytellers, poets, and artists to tap into dark crevices and access the parts of themselves that house the pain and suffering both endured and committed.
It was Mark Making’s hope that sharing their stories give participants an opportunity to free themselves from past experiences they see as painful and hopeless so they can create improved future stories—for them and all of us who live in Chattanooga. Art and storytelling gives us the opportunity to connect with one another and recognize that we are all more alike than we are different.
