Art Projects
Collective Grief Mural
Call for Submissions is open October 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027.
We cannot heal our collective trauma individually. Joining our individual experiences together into a collective mural will allow us to share our most raw, authentic expressions in a space where they are validated and amplified by each other. All language submissions and descriptions will be available in both English and Spanish. ASL works are highly encouraged. Artists from marginalized backgrounds especially encouraged. Please reach out if you have concerns around privacy.
What are you grieving? How are you grieving? Bring your laments, your dirges, your memorials and altars, your wails and anguish, your joyful memories and dashed hopes, your vengeance letters and your canvases dripping agony. And when you're done, please chose a gateway from the framework below to set your masterpiece beside. Assume that your format works for us, preferred formats are listed in the guidelines. If we have issues or need to convert it to something else, we'll reach out. Anonymous submissions are welcome.
Framework provided by Frances Weller’s 5 Gates of Grief.
1. Everything We Love, We Will Lose
2. The Places that have not known Love
3. The Sorrows of the World
4. What We Expected and Did Not Receive
5. Ancestral Grief
6. Another way
Guidelines
Submissions must be the author’s original work; therefore, translations may not be submitted. We will provide translations.
Please only submit work with lyrics that are your own. We do not publish work with outside lyrics. Why? Because permissions are needed for each lyric, and this is often very expensive.
Visual artists should be in jpeg format, under 7MB. If accepted, we will request a hi-res version.
Works of prose may be up to 3,000 words per submission.
Up to three pieces of any kind per artist, please.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome. Please notify us if any of your works are accepted for publication elsewhere.
A bio of 50 words or less may be included with your submission.
A Word document is the preferred format. PDFs will also be accepted.
Thank you for trusting us with your work. We are excited to review and curate it. We will do our best to review and upload submissions within 4-6 weeks, but we might take a bit longer. We'll let you know when you can view your work and share the link.