The Stories of Us

Aaaaand we are LIVE!! Come visit us at the United Nations in New York City - it’s free and INCREDIBLE. We’ll in the entrance gallery for a month before moving outside onto Visitor’s Plaza. To explore the exhibition, meet the artists and find out how to organize your visit - go to www.thestoriesofus.org/un A HUGE thank you to the team at the UN, our partners and the artists who have made it possible. Team work / dream work ?? Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye Wei Soo Maya Peterson

???? The Stories of Us is going to the United Nations! ???? We are proud to announce that The Stories of Us exhibition will launch at the United Nations on March 7th, 2025. The Stories of Us exhibition explores the universal ideals of equality and solidarity – they are at the heart of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the bedrock principles of the UN. We offer this exhibition of sculptures created by artists from across the African diaspora to honor our global community and the future we can create together. We are thrilled to be working with the UN Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery to bring the exhibition to the UN for the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (March 25th) and the fourth session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (April 14-17). The exhibition will be indoors in Gallery B from March 7 - April 11, before moving outdoors into the iconic Visitors’ Plaza for April 11-April 25th. As we walk through these incredible sculptures, we are reminded of the truth of ubuntu – "I am who I am because of who we all are" - honoring the courage, resistance, and contributions of people of African descent to freedom and human dignity. ?? The exhibition features five incredible new sculptures by the remarkable Alanis Forde, Francks Deceus, LáOLú NYC, Leasho Johnson & Marryam Moma. Once more, we’re so inspired and moved by the genius and generosity of our artists’ storytelling. ?? We are grateful for the support of A4 Arts Foundation, Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, Essence Communications Inc., Ford Foundation, and PolicyLink, which has made this exhibition possible. The exhibition serves as an invitation for all of us to reimagine who we want to be and the impact we can have if we step into the spirit of transformative solidarity. It is the revolution of the soul that the future calls us to embrace. Visit us at the UN! ?? Open: March 7 - April 25, 2025 ?? Location: United Nations Headquarters You can visit us at the UN for free, just follow the steps at https://lnkd.in/eHP_6n_U Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye Dennis Marcus Maya Peterson Wei Soo MONIQUE MADDOX Dr. Michael McAfee Angela Glover Blackwell Glenda Johnson

? Guess who has joined The Stories of Us as a Founding Partner ? We are thrilled to share that ESSENCE is now a Founding Partner of The Stories of Us! ?? As a trailblazer in championing the stories, culture, and empowerment of Black communities, ESSENCE's commitment to supporting authentic narratives connects perfectly with our vision. Together, we will honor the full breadth of stories that make up the story of the United States - and create space for us to imagine a future in which we step into the equality and solidarity the founding of our nation envisioned. ?? As one of the first expressions of this partnership, we’ll see you at The ESSENCE Festival Of Culture? presented by Coca-Cola? in New Orleans from July 3-6, 2025!!! The exhibition will feature five new sculptures created by Louisiana artists - and as you can tell from the exclamation points, we couldn’t be more excited. We are deeply grateful for ESSENCE and Sundial Media Group's support for our work to create spaces that invite everyone to share their stories, expand their civic imagination and be part of the conversation and work of making equality and solidarity a reality. #blackhistorymonth Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye Wei Soo Dennis Marcus Maya Peterson Essence Communications Inc.

?? Big News!??? We are honored and thrilled to announce that?The Stories of Us?is a?grantee?of the?Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation! DTRF aims to address and heal the wounds of those whose ancestors were enslaved by the the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, through programs working to provide education opportunities, elderly support and racial healing programs. Their work is particularly powerful because it is a partnership between?the Descendants of the enslaved and the present-day successors of the enslavers, designed to transcend the pain of their shared history to create a more just and hopeful future. DTRF is a remarkable example of our mission of Transformative Solidarity – a solidarity in which we recognise and embrace each other’s realities, potential and humanity as essential to our own.? Read this powerful article to learn more about the mission of DTRF to create a global model for racial reconciliation and healing. We are deeply grateful for this partnership and look forward to continuing our work together in shaping a future where every story is honored and healing becomes possible. #BlackHistoryMonth MONIQUE MADDOX Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation Ashley Shaw Scott Adjaye Dennis Marcus Wei Soo

?????? NEW HOST CITIES ?????? The stories we hear, we tell and we share transform how we understand our reality today and the reality we can imagine and create together. And so, we’re thrilled to share, we are bringing The Stories of Us exhibition to three new cities in 2025! We’ll be in iconic locations in: * New York City, New York | April - May 2025 * Cleveland, Ohio | June - August 2025 * New Orleans, Louisiana | June - August 2025 We’re so excited to be working with the incredible people, communities and organizations across our host cities so we can discover each other’s stories and share our own. If you’re in those cities and would like to chat collaboration, please get in touch! Stay tuned to find out more in the coming weeks

Drumroll please...... We’re delighted to share The Stories of Us with you! In 2026, the United States marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. At the core of that document were two ideas: equity and solidarity. Those ideas weren’t a reality in 1776 and, though progress has been made, they’re still not a reality today. And yet they go to the heart of how we think of ourselves as Americans. The Stories of Us creates storytelling spaces to bring people together to learn about our shared past, understand our shared present and reimagine a future in which equity and solidarity are a reality for everyone. And so we’re thrilled to launch our first exhibition of drum sculptures in Detroit’s Capitol Park. Discover the incredible original work by our 11 Detroit-based artists and the stories that inspired them. (If you’re not in Detroit, please go to www.thestoriesofus.org) We’re incredibly grateful for the support of our Founding Partners PolicyLink and first Host Partners Bedrock Detroit! #TheStoriesOfUs www.thestoriesofus.org