“To Make Us Free: Witnessing Activism at Whitman & Beyond”

Sept. 23, 2025–March 13, 2026

“To Make Us Free: Witnessing Activism at Whitman & Beyond” makes visible the work that students, faculty, and staff have done, and continue to do, within, and sometimes against, the institution in attempts to bring about change – in the institution itself, in the community, in the country, or in the world at large. Members of the Whitman community, especially students, have protested administrative decisions, fought for racial and gender equality on campus, organized against war, apartheid regimes, and climate change; they have held their institution accountable for its complicities with structures of oppression, objecting to a lack of accessible spaces on campus and to statues and plaques celebrating settler-colonialism. They have marched, occupied buildings, chalked sidewalks, and published op-eds. At times, they have found themselves working alongside college leaders for change, while at others, they have protested the decisions of its administration and board.

“To Make Us Free” explores activist histories as an integral part of Whitman College’s past and present, and investigates how institutions of higher education have been both the locus for, and the object of, protests. The title is drawn from Audre Lorde’s essay “Poetry Is Not a Luxury,” in which she argues that, in order to make change, we must be able to project alternatives to our realities through the work of the imagination. In this spirit, the exhibition looks both to the past and to the future, celebrating how people imagined, and continue to imagine every day, new possibilities. In addition to historical timelines and archival material, the exhibition features artworks that grapple with issues that have elicited passionate engagement on our campus. Our featured artists give visual form to the concerns for social justice and equality that animate their work, and allow us to look beyond current oppressive systems to imagine a better world.

Artists:

vanessa german, Michaela Oteri, Nicholas Galanin, Mina Cheon, the Gaza Biennale (Liza  Madi, Firas Thabet, Muhannad Al Sayes, Yahya Alsholy), Banksy, Will Porter, Roger Peet/JustSeeds, Taring Padi Art Collective, Marie Watt, Robert L. Newman III, Ken Gonzales-Day, Eileen Doktorski, Irwin Nash, Drue McPherson, and the AMBOS (Art Made Between Opposite Sides) Collective.