Café Space
In recognition of Crime Victims’ Rights Week (April 6–12), Hands of Hope presents a powerful community collaboration between Plains Art Museum and the Red River Children’s Advocacy Center (RRCAC). The installation features 884 handprints—each representing a child or family served by RRCAC in 2023. These canvases are not just symbols of survival; they are visual affirmations of courage, resilience, and the urgent need for community care.
Art-making can be a vital means of expression for young people processing trauma. For survivors of child abuse, creative practice often becomes a form of embodied testimony—an avenue to express feelings too complex or painful to verbalize. As museums grow more trauma-informed, exhibitions like Hands of Hope remind us of our role not only as cultural institutions, but also as spaces for healing and advocacy.
This installation stands in conversation with the Museum’s broader Convergence Expo, which seeks to address how systems—legal, educational, cultural—can move toward justice and support for the most vulnerable. Let this exhibition serve as a call to action: to protect, uplift, and listen to the voices of those so often silenced.
Together, we can build a culture of hope and healing.
