Chicago, IL & on the road ...
Aaron Hughes is an artist, activist, organizer, teacher, and Iraq War veteran based in Chicago. His multidimensional creative practice operates in a diversity of spaces and media as he seeks out connections, poetics, and moments of beauty in order to construct narratives and meaning out of personal and collective traumas. He uses these narratives in the development of projects that expose and deconstruct systems of oppression and dehumanization. In addition to his work with Justseeds, Hughes works collaboratively with a range of artists, veterans, activists, and art organizations and projects including Iraq Veterans Against the War, Warrior Writers, emerging Veteran Artists Movement, Dirty Canteen, and Prison & Neighborhood Arts Project.
Other Media
Earlier this year the emerging Veteran Art Movement joined Iraqi artists featured in the “Theater of Operations” exhibition at MoMA PS1 in calling on MoMA board members to divest from…
From April 13th to 17th the Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (IL-CHEP) hosted the Let Our People Go: Week of Action. One of the IL-CHEP coalition partners is…
Forty-five artists of the emerging Veteran Art Movement network, including myself, sent an open letter to Museum of Modern Art PS1 in support of the 37 artists in the Theater of…
This past fall, I learned about the Dissenters, a group of young activists focused on building a new antiwar and demilitarization movement. I could not have been more excited to…
Join Justseeds and the Art Build Workers in supporting Chicago teachers, students, families, and public service employees by making designs for a massive Chicago Art Build for Public Education. Chicago…
An interview with artist Eric J. Garcia about his new book Drawing On Anger: Portraits of U.S Hypocrisy and his celebrated exhibition The Bald Eagle’s Toupee at DePaul Art Museum….
Over the past year I had the privilege of leading a team of fellow veteran artists in curating and organizing the first ever National Veterans Art Museum Triennial & Veteran…
The Iraq War and the “weapons of mass destruction” lies it was based on have long faded from the headlines. The resulting death, destruction and destabilization, however, are still a…
In 2016, I was humbled to be asked to teach at Stateville Prison with the Prison & Neighborhood Arts Project (P+NAP), a program that connects teaching artists and scholars to…
The new Justseeds Poor People’s Campaign portfolio is just one example of artists getting involved with this self proclaimed “new and unsettling force.” Over the past several weeks the campaign…
Earlier this year I was humbled to get the chance to interview the amazing political artist Jane Norling. One powerful project Jane was involved in was the San Francisco based…
MonicaTrinidad at Do Not Resist exhibition. Photo by Love & Struggle photos. A growing number of artists have been responding to social issues and making political work. Yet, fewer have been…
Jane Norling is an artist activist with an inspiring past. For fifty years, as a painter, graphic designer, and public artist, she’s created community murals, graphic designs for social and…
On December 4, 1967, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. announced plans for a Poor People’s Campaign and called for the nation to take dramatic steps to end poverty. In…
I met Daniel Drennan ElAwar from the Jamaa Al-Yad Artists’ Collective almost a year ago when we collaborated with Ethan Heitner, Stefan Christoff, and Kevin Caplicki on the Up…
1. Community The successful projects, organizations, and movements for justice that I know of have been deeply rooted in community. Communities defend, sustain, grow, inspire, and transform movements just as…
Peace Seekers by Kabul Knights Yesterday, I opened my email to read about the deadly attack on the Hazara demonstration on July 23rd in Kabul, Afghanistan. I had received a message…
Riparian Sheet created by Drew Cameron at the Veterans Memorial in San Francisco, 2016. On June 9th, the San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries hosted a one-day public Combat Paper and…
As I await the bombardment of fireworks for tonight’s 4th of July celebration, I can not help thinking about those living under US military bombardment and drone attacks abroad. On…
While on a trip to Istanbul last December, I spoke with Ezgi Bakcay, a curator and member of Karşı Sanat, a local artist run space and cooperative. She told…