What DO we tell our children when the inexplicable happens or tragedy strikes? It has been two years since the shocking, pointless shooting death of Philando Castile put Falcon Heights on the undesirable list of sites of recent police shootings of black men and boys, and that question still lingers in the air. Is the policeman a friend? Or is the policeman yet another danger in an unsafe world? Is there justice after tragedy? What is just? Who defines justice?  Can meaning be found in the senseless? How can anger and pain be channeled so that it does not devour the sufferer?

Humans often turn to art when grappling with overwhelming emotions like fear, grief, and anger. Some people journal, finding that when putting pen to paper thoughts can be unleashed and reorganized in ways that increase understanding.  Others express themselves through drawing or painting. Who can forget the power of Picasso’s Guernica? But one doesn’t need to be Picasso to help oneself or others through art.

The grief and anger that the killing of Philando Castile released in his friends and family, and in the entire community, found many outlets from protests to memorials to fundraisers for school lunches. Many people also found solace in art and many of these works were given to Castile’s mother, Valerie Castile, in shared mourning. She found comfort in them and was moved to reach out to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), seeking a way to share these gifts from community artists more widely.

The current free exhibit at the MIA “Art and Healing: In the Moment” (through July 29) developed from that offer.  Today there is a tragic need for communal spaces for processing grief and anger and seeking healing. MIA is exploring this role in this multimedia exhibit. The curators have worked with the family and a panel of artists and community leaders to present a selection from the multitude of artworks Ms. Castile received that will honor the individual, the community, and the pain. The exhibit is accompanied by a quiet space for reflection upon the emotions engendered or reopened. It is also paired with a series of related events— speakers, panels and guided discussions on healing, racial (in)justice, and much more—putting the seminal event, the

shooting of Castile by a police officer at a traffic stop, into its wider context and seeking to “…explore art as a powerful vehicle for addressing injustice and a tool for community healing”

I am traveling and have not yet had the opportunity to visit this exhibit, but I hope that many of us can experience it and experience it with an open mind and heart.

Why do humans create art? Art is expression and it can help us to cope with and define our response to the difficult question, “What do we tell our children, black and white, when the ‘good guys’ do something terrible and wrong?”  There is no simple answer.