About Us
Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate
Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate showcases the dynamic work of artists who transformed thousands of anti-Semitic, racist books into thought-provoking art.
The project began in 2003 when a defecting leader of a white supremacist organization provided 4,100 copies of the group’s books to the Montana Human Rights Network. The Network asked the Holter Museum of Art to turn the hate-books into art. The Museum created an exhibition with educational programs that has toured the USA since 2008.
Speaking Volumes Art Action (SVAA)
Speaking Volumes Art Action (SVAA) is a Montana nonprofit social-benefit organization founded by artists and educators who were part of the original Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate exhibition at the Holter Museum of Art. Working as a team that begin in 2005, these individuals contributed to the project’s development through outreach, communication, publication, hands-on labor, fundraising, filmmaking, curriculum design, teaching, and truck driving. In 2019, they recognized the need for a dedicated organization to manage the exhibition and its educational programs under the leadership of its curator, Katie Knight. Members of the SVAA board of directors collaborate with staff at the Holter Museum of Art to support the missions of both arts organizations.
The mission of Speaking Volumes Art Action is to strengthen movements for earth and social justice through art making and education. Speaking Volumes: Transforming Hate, the traveling exhibition with related educational programs, is at the heart of our mission. Relevant art—art that speaks to the urgent concerns of our time – inspires us. We design and lead art projects that engage and empower participants to co-create a culture that embraces equity, justice, and democracy.