“My art helps me to stay positive, and I use it in a sense to get me through hard times,” Lamphere said.

Lamphere has multiple art journals that help her express her feelings. She carries them around and works on the pieces in it at the museum.

With the two-year anniversary of the MSU shooting approaching, Maya Manuel, a co-curator of the exhibit and MSU alum, knew that she could make a space that students would want to visit and heal in. The exhibit was curated to bring awareness to gun violence and to depict healing through “artivism.”

Before Manuel introduced this artivism— the theory of art and activism working together in a single piece— to campus with associate professor of Spanish & Global Studies Scott Boehm, Manuel was active in the advocacy scene following the shooting, organizing sit down protests at the state capitol and rallying for gun control legislation. 

With this exhibit, she wanted to create a place for inspiration through hands-on work. 

“I have created a safe space for students, including myself,” Manuel said. 

Interim Director and Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs Steven Bridges also said working with Manuel and Boehm on this exhibit helped the Broad Art Museum further unlock its potential to be a site for important discussions and learning opportunities.

Boehm said he found the creative process to be inspiring, and that curating and working with Manuel on this exhibit has felt natural.

Boehm and Manuel have previous experience together from Boehm's documentary, Our Knotted Gun, which featured Manuel. The documentary shares responses by people who say that the nightmare of gun violence in America has to end.

The pair is also working to bring the Non-Violence Program’s Why Knot NY Program to Michigan. Why Knot NY is a program that is meant to inspire, motivate and engage people to manage and prevent conflicts without ever resorting to violence.

“It's always a joy to work with Maya,” Boehm said. “Her commitment to gun violence prevention has no limit and it's very heartfelt and soulful.”

Bridges said the exhibit aligns with the mission of Broad, and that they see the power of creating a community connection through the art.

Manuel wanted MSU students to realize that they are not alone, especially during the healing process.

“This project is not just made for East Lansing's Community, but for the students who come from a background of violence,” said Manuel. "This is for everybody."

The Soul Box project is an art based tool that can help raise awareness for gun violence in the United States.

“The Soul Box project is the invitation to enter the exhibition, to participate in it, to add to it and to process trauma that people might be experiencing,” Boehm said. “Whether it's related to February 13th and MSU or to community violence that's taking place in the Greater Lansing area, or people who are affected by the Oxford High School shooting.”

When it was displayed at the East Lansing Public Library last summer, Manuel knew they had to bring it to MSU's campus, and that Broad was the right place to share the project with students. 

Healing has been an important part of the past two years for Spartans. The Broad Art Museum was there for people on Feb. 13, 2023, like it is now with Art in the Aftermath.

”It’s also important to acknowledge that the museum was a site of refuge in response to the violence that gripped MSU’s campus on February 13, 2023,” Bridges said. “It was a safe space then for those that were most directly impacted, and through exhibitions like Art in the Aftermath, we hope to also provide opportunities for further processing and healing, all in an effort to create safer and more just societies in the future.”