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Aaron Hughes

Chicago, IL

Aaron Hughes is an artist, curator, organizer, teacher, anti-war activist, and Iraq War veteran. He works collaboratively in diverse spaces and media to create meaning out of personal and collective trauma, deconstruct and transform systems of oppression, and seek liberation. Working through an interdisciplinary practice rooted in drawing and printmaking, Hughes develops projects that deconstruct militarism and related institutions of dehumanization. These projects often utilize popular research strategies, experiment with forms of direct democracy, and operate in solidarity with the people most impacted by structural violence. In addition to his work with Justseeds, Hughes works with a range of art and activist projects including About Face: Veterans Against the War (formerly Iraq Veterans Against the War), Warrior Writers, emerging Veteran Art Movement, and Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project.

Other Media

Preserve the Solidarity Mural

Preserve the Solidarity Mural

January 30, 2024

Fifty years ago, a team of artists led by John Pitman Weber and Jose Guerrero created Solidarity, a mural in the lobby of the UE Hall in Chicago, in what…

Forest Defenders in Chicago Streets

Forest Defenders in Chicago Streets

June 15, 2023

Forest defenders protect all of life. Forests keep carbon out of the atmosphere, regulate weather and protect global biodiversity. Forests are vital for all of us, but consumer goods giants…

Free Captive Art from Guantánamo

Free Captive Art from Guantánamo

October 17, 2022

Eight Guantánamo survivors, in solidarity with the men who are still extralegally imprisoned there, have written an open letter (below) to President Biden calling for an end to a Trump-era…

The new podcast Getting Into Step

The new podcast Getting Into Step

June 4, 2021

The Kairos Center and the NYS Poor People’s Campaign, recently launched the pilot episode of our new podcast, Getting Into Step. The podcast is dedicated to illuminating the times in which we…

Abolish Militarism

Abolish Militarism

May 11, 2021

Celebrate the launch of DE-MIL-I-TA-RISE, Justseeds’ newest art portfolio and booklet in collaboration with the powerful movement organization Dissenters, by supporting their important anti-militarism organizing trainings and anti-militarist campaigns! Contribute…

The COVID Jungle

The COVID Jungle

January 19, 2021

Food workers are essential workers! The COVID Jungle: Chicagoland’s Essential Food Workers and the Need for Vaccination Priority a new report released by the Chicago based Warehouse Workers for Justice…