"They tried to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds."
In 2021, we launched the Nova Institute Art Award to celebrate the creativity in all of us. Creativity of all kinds is vital for our future. Artists challenge the status quo, provide inspiration, and help create new narratives. Through art, we hold a mirror to societies so that we may better see ourselves, celebrate what is beautiful, and understand what is broken. Bringing the conversation directly to the heart helps us feel connected to something bigger with greater kindness, love, and compassion. Creativity provides new perspectives and possibilities for change, a stronger sense of community, belonging, and shared purpose toward overcoming challenges. This is something that everyone can be part of … because we can all find joy in creating!
We asked all entrants to consider how their art relates to the health of people, places, and the planet, and to elaborate on these connections in their artist’s statement when entering.
Entries were judged anonymously by an esteemed panel of researchers, artists, and healthcare professionals.
Open Art (all media, ages 13+):
Open Photography (ages 13+):
Open AI (all ages, pieces made with generative AI)
First Place: Farming After the Fire by Jose L. Flores-Guerrero
Healing is facilitated through safety, persistence, and trust.
Resources support us as we heal. They include reframing, responsibility, and positivity. “Making connections enabled participants to acquire and refine resources and skills that were essential in their healing journey. People also brought their own personal strengths to the journey.”
“Connection to others was an essential part of all the healing journeys.” Humans are social creatures, and even the most introverted of us need close relationships. Friends and family add meaning and value to life and help support us, in good times and bad.
When we experience relational trauma, relationships can feel scary, but reestablishing safety and trust in relationships is where the healing happens. (To be clear, we do not mean reestablishing safety and trust with abusers, but rather finding other healing relationships.)
“When safety and trust had been established, people were able to connect with helpers. The nature of the behaviours of helpers that fostered healing ranged from small acts of kindness to unconditional love.”
Healing probably means different things to different people, but one definition that emerged from the study is: “The re-establishment of a sense of integrity and wholeness.”
Healing was an emergent property that resulted from each individuals’ complex healing journey, a result of bridged connections between resources and relationships. “…they gradually found relief from suffering and began to exhibit emergent characteristics: a sense of hope, self-acceptance, and a desire to help others—the immediate precursors to healing.”
In varying degrees, “they were able to transcend their suffering and in some sense to flourish.”
Suffering is the ongoing pain from wounding.
There is some debate about whether people always experience suffering on the path to healing.
Wounding happens when we experience physical or emotional harm. It can stem from chronic illness or by physical or psychological trauma for which we do not have the tools to cope, or a combination of those factors.
“The degree and quality of suffering experienced by each individual is framed by contextual factors that include personal characteristics, timing of their initial or ongoing wounding in the developmental life cycle and prior and current relationships.”
Characteristics: How predisposed someone may be to wounding/how many tools and resources someone may have to deal with trauma/illness.
Lifestages: Developmental timing plays an important role in the impact of trauma — young children often do not have the same resources as older adults.
Relationships: Relationships can provide solace and support for those suffering, while lack of healthy relationships can prolong suffering.
