Souls Shot Portrait Project, Experience A Healing Power Full Of Beauty

“Souls Shot Portrait Project is an exhibition of portraits created by fine artists paired with families or friends of victims of gun violence. The portraits created by the artists have the unique ability to call out the souls and profoundly affect those who see them.” – Laura Madeleine, founder and director of Souls Shot Portrait Project.

The opening reception for Souls Shot Portrait Project is Friday, September 10th, from 4:00 – 7:00 pm at Brookdale Community College Center for Visual Arts Gallery (CVA). The program will begin at 5:30 pm and will include speakers, Dr. David Stout, president, Brookdale Community College; Laura Madeleine, executive director and curator, Souls Shot Portrait Project; Dr. Ashley Zampogna-Krug, assistant professor, History, chairman of Global Citizenship Project, and co-chair with Judith Ungar, assistant professor, Library Science, introducing their project, “The Human Library;“ Angela Kariotis, director, Diversity, and Inclusion/CCOG will speak, and Ave Latte, professor, Education, will introduce an upcoming initiative that she co-chairs: Civility Week.

The mission of The Souls Shot Portrait Project is to bring attention to and memorialize the lives lost and their families’ lives tragically altered due to gun violence. Too many times, those killed by violent means are remembered by the catastrophe of their final days. This project seeks to bring back the positive memories of those same individuals. “Our participating families and friends of victims of gun violence have been extremely kind and open in allowing us to portray their loved ones in our exhibitions,” said Madeleine. “Our project began in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 2016, and our exhibitions have featured talented, generous artists throughout the years.”

“This is my third year as a contributing artist with Souls Shot,” said artist Warren Keyser. “The size of the painting gives a sense of intimacy to the portrait. Messiah’s gesture, both hands raised with 4 fingers each, represents his basketball jersey number. The lines of the bricks on the walls trailing into empty space represent a lifetime of potential ended too soon.”

“I would just like to write that losing him has left me shattered in a million pieces that I love him and miss him deeply. Life is not the same without him here,” said Messiah’s mother.

“When exhibited locally to where the portrait subjects lived, the exhibition becomes part of a healing ceremony for their families and friends,” said Marie Maber, Professor of Art at Brookdale Community College, and coordinator of the Center for Visual Arts Gallery. “Friends of the individuals honored in each portrait have a chance to share memories and further support the families of those whose lives have been lost. Receiving a portrait can be a positive component of the healing process. Having this exhibition at Brookdale’s CVA Gallery, will enable our Fine Arts Students to learn about the process of creating visual art through empathy. Our wider community will become aware of the role of the Souls Shot Portrait Project as it extends its outreach from Suburban Philadelphia to New Jersey.”

The exhibition will be open to the public starting on September 8th and runs through October 1st. The Gallery hours are 10:00 am – 4:00 pm Monday – Friday. Admission is free. The CVA Gallery is located in parking lot 2 on the Lincroft campus of Brookdale Community College, 765 Newman Springs Road. For more information on the Souls Shot Portrait Project.

Center for the Visual Arts Gallery

Artists In The Exhibition

Elisa Abeloff, Tim Barton, Mary Brady Begnardi, Nancy Mulloy Bonn, Maryanne Buschini, Rhona Candeloro, Jennifer Coburn, Mercedes Delaguardia, Rusty Eveland, Linnie Kerrigan Greenberg, Helene Halstuch, Christopher Hardgrove, Ann Price Hartzell, Garth Herrick, Rebecca Hoenig, Melissa Joseph, Hilda Kaufman, Warren Keyser, Guy M. Kiernan, Anna Kocher, Janine Lieberman, Marie Naples Maber, Chenoa McDonald, Laura Madeleine, Helen Mangelsdort, Elisa Markoff, Nancy Bea Miller, Nathalie Miller, Jeannie Moberly, Laurie Lamont Murry, Laura Orfanelli, Marta Rose, Karen Ruggles, Celeste Schor, B. Douglas Smith, Caroline Stoughton, June Terrell, Wint M. Thu, Lauren Vargas, Juliette Watts, Keisha Whatley, Ruth Wolf, Julie Zahn

Contact: Marie Maber, mmaber@brookdalecc.edu
Contact: Laura Madeleine, soulshotportraitproject@gmail.com