"An ideal still very much in progress, the 1776 American Declaration of Independence begins, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.' Guest curator Roger Manley states, 'We think of big ideas like ‘life’ and ‘liberty’ as if they have to do with sweeping numbers of people, but in fact they begin with the individual.' The quest for human rights and the search for personal fulfillment provides the starting point for exploring both the great failures and successes in the attainment of these ideals within this international exhibition. Works by the last surviving descendent of the Tsar of Russia, Iroquois Native Americans, Guantanamo Bay detainees, Holocaust survivors, incarcerated prisoners, African-American civil rights activists, and an Iraqi wartime doctor, were among the Exhibition’s 86 featured visionary artists who have each creatively wrestled with their own life experience of personal liberty and happiness." - Founder, Director, and Chief Curator, Rebecca Hoffberger