Location: Bethlehem, Palestine Photo: zehra imam

Expression is freedom.

At Illuminated Cities, we believe that communities impacted by systemic violence deserve to live in safety and peace. They deserve beauty, joy, moments of play, and rest.

In the face of violence, expression can be an act of resistance. 

Illuminated Cities works with students and educators from communities in crisis to find language for lived experiences, create networks with one another, and center voices most harmed by structures of power.

We utilize community-based creative healing tools such as poetry workshops, citizen journalism, participatory action research, visual arts, and conversations on colorism to name the harm. Then, we use these tools of expression to initiate the process of addressing harm and healing as a community.

  • Pilot Project, Mexico City (2012)

  • "Educated in America: Voices from a Broken System," New York City (2013)

  • "I, Too, Am America," Sikh Coalition, New York City (2014)

  • "From Hate to (S)heroism," Southwest Chicago (2015)

  • "From Hate to (S)heroism" - Guru Nanak Darbar of L.I. Visit, New York, USA (2015)

  • Illuminated Cities & General Raj's School Partnership - New Delhi, India (2016)

  • "From Hate to (S)heroism" - Gurdwara Sahib Visit, New York, USA (2016)

  • Illuminated Cities & General Raj's School Partnership, New Delhi, India (2017)

  • Illuminated Cities, General Raj's School, and Solar Suitcase Partnership - New Delhi, India (2018-19)

  • Illuminated-India fellows Skyping with Kuwaiti students on climate change - New Delhi, Kuwait City (2018)

  • She Is Night, a creative arts collective to redream a world beyond colorism (2020)

  • Love Letters (to God), a community writing course - Online (2020)

  • Your Food, Your Roots - a community course on food traditions (2020)

  • "Love Letters (to God)," Aida Refugee Camp, Palestine (2023)

  • "Dreams of Freedom, Huriye, Azadi: Centering Artists Impacted by Genocide," Harvard University (2024)

  • Poetry of the Camps - Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (2024)

“The idea that trauma and violence can have repercussions into future generations should help people be more empathetic, help policymakers pay more attention to the problem of violence.”

— Professor Connie J Mulligan, co-author of study on intergenerational exposure to violence in three generations of Syrian refugees

Toni Morrison shares her thoughts on the history of art and artists, and speaks to why expression can be an act of resistance.

Support Our Programs

Help us reach more students and educators around the world as we curate community spaces, extend creative healing tools for expression, and build collective power in the face of violence. Donate today.

Location: Bethlehem, Palestine Photo: zehra imam

“Whoever stays till the end will tell the story. We did what we could. Remember us.”

— Dr. Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, killed by a strike on Al Awda Hospital on November 21, 2023 in Gaza, Palestine