UNMASKING: Now We Speak
to
ArtsBuild 301 E. 11th Street, Suite 300 , City of Chattanooga, Tennessee 37403

UNMASKING: Now We Speak is a Mark Making visual art, creative writing and performance project focusing on men and women with addiction and mental health issues who are in the Hamilton County Trauma Track Re-Entry Program or have been or are now incarcerated at the Silverdale Detention Center.
The participants' art and stories are the result of a year-long workshop series in which they worked with storytellers, poets, and artists to tap into dark crevices and access the parts of themselves that house the pain and suffering both endured and committed.
It is Mark Making’s hope that sharing their stories will help set participants free from past experiences they see as painful and hopeless. The core purpose of UNMASKING: Now We Speak is to help participants create improved future stories—for them and all of us who live in Chattanooga. Art and storytelling gives us the opportunity to connect with one another and recognize that we are all more alike than we are different.
- Visual Arts Director: Frances McDonald
- Storytelling Director: Peggy Douglas
- Acting Director: Anne Swedberg
- Technical Director: Philip Luckey
- Media Director: Miller Blain
- House Manager: Jonathan Dean
- Musician: Butch Ross
Artists: Crissy, De’Michael McGee, Megan, R.A, Rachel, R.G., Samicallihan aka Sutaringu Rabu , Teresa Whisenant and Mycal Wingfield.
Actors: Eleanor Aiken, Kyree Brown, Jake Cash, Maureen Davis, Mary Eliza Henricks, Cole McClain, Marcus Price, Trish Ross and Arche Twitty.
Special thanks to our partners: ArtsBuild, Silverdale Detention Center, and the Hamilton County Mental Health Court-Sexual Trauma Track.
This program is funded in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission.