An exhibition titled “Unspoken Resilience: Healing from the Lewiston Shooting Two Years In” is on view at the University of New England Art Gallery in Portland, Maine. Co-curated by Michelle Ames and Meryl Troop, the show features work by deaf artists and craftspeople alongside color photographs of Lewiston by Michael Kolster. It was created in response to the October 2023 mass shooting at Schemengees Bar & Grille in Lewiston, which killed 18 people, four of whom were deaf. Ames, co-director of deaf services at Disability Rights Maine, was frustrated by the lack of ASL interpreters in media coverage and helped organize community support. The exhibition includes pieces that explore Deaf culture, healing, and the concept of De’VIA (Deaf View/Image Art), a term defined in 1989 by deaf artists to express the Deaf experience through high contrast, intense colors, and symbolic imagery.
This exhibition matters because it addresses a critical gap in public awareness and accessibility for the Deaf community, especially in the context of a traumatic event. By centering deaf artists and their perspectives, the show not only honors the victims of the Lewiston shooting but also educates viewers about De’VIA and the importance of ASL interpretation in emergency communications. It provides a space for collective healing and highlights the resilience of a community often overlooked in mainstream media. The inclusion of works like Nancy Rourke’s “Reclaiming Cornhole (ala Guernica)” and Ames’s own mixed-media piece “Unwrapping” underscores how art can serve as both personal catharsis and a tool for social awareness.