The Columbus Cultural Arts Center (CAC)
will host a major exhibition focused on the substance abuse crisis now gripping Ohio (and much of the nation). The goals for this exhibition, Operation Monarch:
Addressing Substance Abuse, Recovery, and the Role of Art, are several-fold:
-To educate and challenge the Greater Columbus community about their perceptions of Substance Use Disorders and those who have endured its deadly grasp; This show of contemporary works by Ohio artists co-curated by Bev Goldie and Myken Pullins.
By incluOperation Monarch web page screenshotding the personal messages with the art; showing the multitude of newspaper articles
written about addiction and recovery; sharing an interactive article and graphics by the New York Times to explain the condition; encouraging interaction with the viewers in several ways; and presenting the work as honestly as possible – they hope many others feel moved too. The goal was to address, educate, challenge and possibly change perspectives about the whole subject.
-To show that recovery is possible and how art can have an important role in the process. It’s a rare day when you can pick up a newspaper without some reference to the social and economic fallout from substance abuse. Addiction is a multi-faceted problem that affects not only the individual but also families, friends, employers, and society as a whole. There is hardly a person in Ohio who has not been touched by this crisis. Operation Monarch will allow us to see how some individuals have overcome their addiction partially through making art. Indeed, the title of the exhibition was chosen to reflect that addiction and recovery are parts of a journey of transformation. We hope that art will help us understand the stories of those most affected by the crisis.
