Upcoming Exhibitions & Events

Aaron Hughes (b. 1982) is an artist, curator, and anti-war veteran. Working through an interdisciplinary practice rooted in drawing and printmaking, Hughes works collaboratively to create meaning out of personal and collective trauma, transform systems of oppression, and seek liberation. He develops projects that utilize popular research strategies, experiment with forms of direct democracy, and operate in solidarity with the people most impacted by structural violence. 

His work has appeared in venues worldwide including Museum of Modern Art in New York, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, Maruki Gallery in Tokyo, and Ashkal Alwan in Beirut. He has received a number of awards, grants, residencies, and fellowships from a variety of institutions, including Center for Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago, Illinois Humanities, Ashkal Alwan, Blue Mountain Center, Lawrence Arts Center, Links Hall, The Kitchen, and Penland School of Craft. His recent publications including Surviving the Long Wars: Creative Rebellion at the Ends of Empire (Bridge Books, 2024), Invitation to Tea: A Tea Project Archive & Recipe Book (StepSister Press, 2022), and Remaking the Exceptional: Tea, Torture, and Reparations | Chicago to Guantánamo (DePaul Art Museum, 2022).

Hughes is the co-founder of the emerging Veteran Art Movement and co-curator of the Veteran Art Triennial and Summit. Building on the international success of previous Triennials, the 2026 iteration, Resisting the Long War, highlights artists’ creative defiance to war and militarism. The featured artworks uplift overlapping legacies of war resistance, presenting alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice generated by diverse communities impacted by war.