Artist and arts administrator Kathleen Kirk Stoves is debuting an art exhibit at Mobile Arts Council in downtown Mobile, Alabama, in partnership with Lynn Oldshue, founder and writer of the storytelling project Our Southern Souls. The exhibit runs through May and coincides with the ArtWalk event on May 8th. Stoves created paintings inspired by Oldshue's interviews with over 2,000 people from the Mobile area, originally sparked by stories about bus riders.
The exhibit matters because it marks the 10th anniversary of Our Southern Souls, a community storytelling project that has collected hundreds of personal narratives highlighting the humanity and resilience of everyday people. By translating these oral histories into visual art, Stoves and Oldshue bridge two mediums to foster empathy and connection, offering a timely antidote to division and hate. The collaboration underscores the power of local art and storytelling to strengthen community bonds.