Upcoming Exhibitions

The Names We Give to Home: Works by Lelia Byron

October 7 - December 4, 2026

Image: Lelia Byron, Homegrown, oil on canvas, 5' x 7', 2023.

Opening Reception
Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 - 8:00pm
Dittmar Memorial Gallery

The Names We Give To Home grew out of conversations with approximately 40 residents of Springfield, Ohio, about the topic of “home.” The resulting paintings function as visual narratives showing how participants understand “home” as something continually created through relationships, memory, care, and collective action. The paintings move between intimate and collective experiences: the creation of a community food garden, the restoration of a historic Underground Railroad safehouse, the sustaining role of creativity in everyday life, and a couple’s commitment to community through education and public service. Together, these stories reveal how larger social and economic forces are experienced through neighborhoods, families, friendships, and acts of mutual care.

The questions raised here extend beyond a single city, addressing themes relevant to communities across the U.S. that are navigating the effects of deindustrialization while actively imagining and building new futures. The exhibition asks what home can mean today—and what becomes possible when people imagine it together.

About the Artist

Lelia Byron is an interdisciplinary visual artist working at the intersection of art and human rights through research-based, investigative, and community-rooted projects. In her work, painting functions as both a method of investigation and a visual narrative, where stories, testimonies, photographs, and material traces are gathered, layered, and reworked. Lelia’s practice examines how large-scale issues manifest in the personal lives of individuals. Moving beyond broad political histories, her projects often focus on how people confront forces beyond their control—and on the personal and emotional dimensions often not told by official historical narratives.

Lelia has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master’s in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Arts (University of the Arts London).

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