For Freedoms

For Freedoms is an artist-led organization that models and increases creative civic engagement.

09/30/2025

For Freedoms presents Americas, an exhibition showcasing the work of Peter van Agtmael () and Wesaam Al-Badry () at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design (), on view through Jan 25, 2026
⁠
What makes American myths so seductive? Why do we struggle to reconcile the greatness of the country with its layers of darkness? Whose realities must be silenced for those myths to endure?
⁠
For more than two decades, the two photographers have searched for their Americas through image-making. From laborers, farm workers, and families, to the legacies of 9/11 and cycles of violence abroad and at home, their work reveals the contradictions, tenderness, and tensions that define American identity. ⁠

Join us for the reception — free and open to the public — this Thursday, Oct 2, 6:30–8 PM!

03/23/2025

Earlier this week, on the occasion of the Spring Equinox, we invited our friend Maya June Mansour to pen some words for our community in the For Freedoms newsletter. Her dispatch on the splendor and newness that Spring brings is available to read at the link in bio.

Sign up to our newsletter at forfreedoms.org

✍️ is a photographer and recipient of both the For Freedoms Google Image Equity Fellowship and Hear Her Here Fellowship, dedicated to uplifting the work and voices of young artists of color. She is the co-founder of , a 2024 For Freedoms Grant recipient.

📷 “Always Here” from Maya’s series, Light Brown Butterfly.

03/17/2025

“There is something severe about it. About being in free fall. The fear and exhilaration that result from loss of control. A mental teleportation to a place far from where you are, but exactly there. When you are young, one can conspire this escape in anything.”

In ‘Landing,’ a collection of 22 critical essays, poems, and interviews alongside over 100 photographs documented between 2015-2022, Maen Hammad () explores the lives of Palestinian skateboarders as they navigate the layered realities of occupation.

100% of artist proceeds support the Palestinian skateboarding community and mutual aid efforts in Gaza. Preorder the book, which releases this March, at the link in our bio.

02/27/2025

“I imagine the future less inflamed, way more calm, really hydrated, and really musical.”⁠
⁠
Maya June Mansour () is a photographer from Nashville, TN with roots in Black America, Palestine, and Iran. Her mobile billboard, “I Am Calm and the River is Dry,” was a part of the Google Image Equity Fellowship under the show ‘Through Fire and Thunder.’⁠
⁠
Her current project, ‘Light Brown Butterfly,’ investigates the long-term mental and spiritual impact of sexual assault. Using self-portraiture, Maya depicts her relationship with trauma through the lenses of anger, healing, and religion.⁠
⁠
Swipe to explore Maya’s work. ⁠
Follow the Black Image Center here on Instagram:

02/21/2025

This LA Art Week we’re committed to doing as much as possible to support the artists and culture workers impacted by the recent fires. Proceeds from a series of limited edition prints, including a new limited edition print by Awol Erizku and a fundraising print by Hank Willis Thomas, will support our on-the-ground work. Now shoppable on the For Freedoms online store.

We are also thrilled to announce a new partnership with Future Fair launching this week, that includes work by For Freedoms artists and fellows Hana Ward, Emanuel Hahn, and Da’Shaunae Marisa, as well as artist Tahnee Lonsdale, available for purchase online via Future Fair - linked in our bio.

Swipe to explore the available work. Find each piece individually linked in stories.

02/14/2025

“Love is the most powerful force in the universe. It has been said that you cannot measure its circumference as the universe is always expanding. ⁠However love can not be static, it is in motion and must expand it must evolve. ⁠
⁠
What happens if these words were married, in a union in the deepest reaches of the galaxy and came to Earth to show their super hero powers of their intergalactic union? Then we have EVOLOVE, which has no kryptonite, the only challenge is that you can’t Evolove with your eyes, you must Evolove with your heart and mind, which are infinite. ⁠
⁠
This billboard is a message to our inner love super hero. Grow and be bold with your love, be uncomfortable, be a mash up of mistakes of confusion and compassion, fear and fortitude.” ⁠
⁠
- , artist statement⁠
⁠
❤️⁠
⁠
🖼️ Evolove, Sol Guy () & Vishana Lodhia ()⁠
📍Naples, UT. In partnership with ⁠
📷️

02/11/2025

Cassils’ () multimedia and performance work contemplates the histories of LGBTQI+ representation, struggle, survival, and empowerment. Their solo exhibition, Movements, curated by Brandee Caoba () at SITE Santa Fe (), interrogated the act of recording and preserving performance, questioning how the body is framed, mediated, and ultimately reinterpreted.⁠
⁠
“This exhibition employs a myriad of visual tactics,” Cassils explained. “From outlines and silhouettes, solar exposures, retinal burns, flashes, and Rorschach devices, I aim to complicate how we define trans* visibility in a moment of heightened violence.”⁠
⁠
Cassils’ work positions their body as both the raw material and protagonist of their performances. For the Canadian-born, New York- and Los Angeles-based artist, performance is a form of social sculpture, reflecting how bodies are shaped by external forces and social expectations.⁠
⁠
→ Swipe for images and performance excerpts from the exhibition

01/30/2025

American Patriots: Tomorrow and Saturday in DC⁠
⁠
“What does it mean to be a patriot? What does it mean to be an American Patriot in today’s polarized society? Is it still possible to find common ground? Should we? Where is the line where it’s no longer okay to “agree to disagree?” Where do we as a country go from here?” ⁠
⁠
📢⁠
As part of For Freedoms Town Hall tomorrow at the , enjoy performance excerpts from multidisciplinary opera, ‘American Patriots’. The theatrical song-cycle captures the contemporary American zeitgeist taken from interviews of Americans nationwide. The evening also includes a panel talk with artists and cultural organizers Holly Bass, Helena Huang, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Miguel Luciano, and American Patriots creator, Samantha Williams. ⁠
⁠
The Town Hall is open to everyone, but an RSVP is required. Link in Bio. ⁠
⁠
On Saturday, Feb 1st there are multiple opportunities to see ‘American Patriots’ performed at the National Gallery () at 1, 2 & 3 PM in the West Building as part of the 82nd Concert Series. These performances are open to everyone.

01/28/2025

Calling all Angelenos: Volunteers are still needed for wildfire relief effort! ⁠
⁠
Bernie’s Coffee Shop needs on-site volunteers and drivers to support their ongoing work distributing much-needed supplies to communities impacted by the LA fires. Monday to Saturday, 12-5PM. Send a DM to or to register. ⁠
⁠
Our friends are providing nourishment on site at who we have partnered with to deliver family-style meals to first responders, evacuees, mutual aid organizations and volunteers. If your community or someone you know is in need - or if you’d like to support the effort - please reach out to .⁠
⁠
We’re committed to offering all the help we can, the need is still great. ⁠
⁠
Thank you!

01/26/2025

Opening January 30 from 5-8pm, Between Us, a group exhibition curated by MIDTONES’ Asa Featherstone IV () at the McKinley Foundation at the University of Illinois. Photographs will be exhibited alongside interviews that celebrate BIPOC communities that have long been marginalized or overlooked, exploring the nuance within communities of color across the Midwest in partnership with For Freedoms and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Center for Advanced Study (CAS).⁠
⁠
This past year, For Freedoms supported the inaugural MIDTONES print publication and group exhibition jointly titled Another First Impression, as a part of the For Freedoms Artist Support program. With Between Us, MIDTONES founder Asa Featherstone expands upon the inaugural exhibition and includes new work resulting from his current artist residency at the McKinley Foundation at the University of Illinois.⁠
⁠
Artists featured:⁠
Asa Featherstone, IV (), Elijah Barnes (), Yasmin Yassin (), Andrea Sabugo (.r.dre), Da’shaunae Marisa (), Njaimeh Njie ()⁠
⁠
An artist talk will also take place on January 30 at 6PM, during the opening reception. For more info, visit the link in our bio.

01/24/2025

What does it mean to be a patriot?⁠
⁠
In our upcoming Town Hall at the Corcoran School of Arts & Design () on January 31st, artists and cultural organizers Holly Bass (), Helena Huang (), Marc Bamuthi Joseph (), Miguel Luciano (), and Samantha Rose Williams () will discuss how the language and interpretations of patriotism can be rebranded, subverted, and redefined through artistic expressions.⁠
⁠
The evening will also include performance excerpts from Samantha Rose Williams’ multidisciplinary opera, American Patriots, that will also be performed the following day, February 1st, at the National Gallery of Art (). RSVP for both at the link in our bio.⁠
⁠
As part of our ongoing For Freedoms Residency programming at the in partnership with the , ’ Falling Star series is on display alongside the Four Freedoms Photographs and limited edition print Let Love Quiet Fear, available for purchase at with proceeds benefiting For Freedoms. Learn more about public viewing hours via the Corcoran Exhibition calendar - also linked in our bio.

01/23/2025

What is your vision of freedom?

As part of For Freedom’s three year residency at , a Corcoran class “Professional Practices” presented the For Freedoms lawn sign activation at the People’s March at the Capitol last weekend.

Over the last year, For Freedoms has presented the lawn sign activation across the nation by inviting participants articulate a vision of freedom that contains multitudes.

Swipe through to explore a handful of the definitions we’ve collected nationwide. What do you want freedom of / for / to / from?

Address

500 17th St NW
Washington D.C., DC
20006

Website

http://www.forfreedoms.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when For Freedoms posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to For Freedoms:

Shortcuts

Featured

Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund
400 I Street, SW

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Washington D.C.?