Maryam Ahmad, a second-year student at Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, was part of a collaboration with two other Oklahoma-based artists that received a $5,000 grant recently. For the project, titled “Stories from the Core,” Ahmad produced written narratives for community engagements.
The visual art installation was produced by Sarah Ahmad, Kara Lynch, and Ahmad and “seeks to bear witness to grief—the grief of individuals across Oklahoma, and the grief of the land itself—as a movement towards healing,” according to the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition, which awarded the grant through the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts' Regranting Program.
“This project uses storytelling practices, mixed media art, and the natural beauty and power of the earth to facilitate intimate moments of mourning, in which community members honor their losses and open themselves up to hope,” said Ahmad. “Drawing on the transformative powers of the natural world, ‘Stories From the Core’ invites communities to experience the land as a force for healing, rather than a site of discord.”
