The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will host a traveling exhibit Oct. 22 to Dec. 2 featuring the work of young emerging artists with disabilities. 

The exhibit, “Electrify: VSA Emerging Young Artists, Kennedy Center Touring Exhibition,” will be on display in the Small Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design. A reception for the exhibit will be held from 5-7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, in the Windgate Center.

This traveling exhibit is organized by VSA Visual Arts Program for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The VSA is the Kennedy Center’s international organization on arts and disability. The year-long traveling exhibition titled includes the work of 15 young artists with disabilities, ages 21 to 25. The 15 artists were selected from a pool of hundreds of applicants by a jury of noted art professionals.

One of the artists is Trinity Kai, a 2017 graduate of UA Little Rock’s Art and Design Department with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. As a student at UA Little Rock, she won the $20,000 grand prize for her photograph, “Insight,” in the Kennedy Center’s 2017 VSA Emerging Young Artists Competition.

Kai’s winning entry “Insight” is a fine art photograph printed in the historical photographic process of gum bichromate over palladium. The photograph was one in a series of photographs she created as part of her BFA thesis project, using a combination of traditional darkroom and historical photographic techniques.

Kai was born with oculocutaneous albinism, a genetic condition that results in poor vision and oversensitivity to light. For her winning entry, Kai turned the camera on herself to create an image that speaks to spirituality, identity, and feelings of alienation.

She is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas, and plans to teach art at the university level someday while working as a professional artist.

The additional artists include Summer Mason, Haley Macherone, Rowan Di Ioia, Becca Schwartz, Jillian Santora, Marieke Davis, Brianna Beck, Rein Brooks, Esther Woo, Taylor Bielecki, Blythe Gurche, Carly Mandel, Kendall Schauder, and Kevin Quiles Bonilla.

The exhibit is free and open to the public. The galleries in the Windgate Center of Art and Design are open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, and 2-5 p.m. Sunday.

For more information, contact Gallery Director Brad Cushman at becushman@ualr.edu or 501-916-5103.

In the upper right photo, Trinity Kai’s award-winning photo, “Insight,” will be on display in “Electrify: VSA Emerging Young Artists, Kennedy Center Touring Exhibition.”