Creative Conscience Gallery
The walls of the Ethics Center serve as gallery space to display socially conscious art. Artists are selected for art that engages social issues and tell stories of human character, struggle and triumph. The gallery also allows visitors to engage with the artist through artist talks.
Beginning in January 2026, the Center for Ethics gallery will host a juried exhibition of student work relating to Emory's annual virtue initiative.
This year's theme, The Year of Compassion, is part of an initiative dedicated to empathy, healing, and connection celebrating Emory’s nearly three decades of collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Though coursework in the Emory Visual Arts Department, students explored the ethics of compassion through discussions, reflection, and original artwork. The Center hosted the students and arts faculty in celebration of the exhibit opening on January 28, 2026 at the Center for Ethics.
Read the Emory feature story here.
The Compassion Exhibit - Selected Pieces
A Mutual Admiration - By Isha Parashar
This work is a recreation of Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s painting Mercy Over Matter. The piece shows compassion between two subjects: the man and the bird. Both are looking at each other intently, with admiration and intensity. Their mutual appreciation is exemplified by the two being equally positioned in the piece. The triadic color scheme emphasizes the warmth and tenderness present in the painting.
Untitled - by Yuval Yancu
In this still life, I placed a red and white Mărțișor bracelet on the blue vase as a symbol of compassion. Mărțișor is a Romanian tradition that marks the start of spring through gestures of goodwill and hope; it is given as a wish for someone’s path to be light and safe. The bracelet was given to me by a Romanian diplomat I worked closely with, and it became an unexpected reminder of shared heritage and gentle human connection. We often spoke about the towns where my grandparents grew up, how they survived the Holocaust in Romania, and the winding paths that carried our families forward. When he gave me the bracelet, he asked me to pass along Mărțișor wishes to my grandfather, a gesture that felt deeply compassionate in its recognition of heritage, loss, and hope. Including it in my painting allows me to honor that moment and the compassion that can pass between people through stories and simple acts of remembrance.
Where Compassion Begins - by Bernie Huang
This piece communicates that compassion, like anything, must begin somewhere. It represents a conscious choice we make to be a better person and make someone's day brighter. I believe that even the smallest act of compassion, as simple as a compliment, has the potential to ripple outward, inspiring those you've touched to extend that kindness to others. I wanted to depict this effect as an abstract ripple, gradually becoming more desaturated as each act grows further removed from the initial gesture.
Grounded in the Land - by Lily Chappell
This assemblage tapestry explores compassion as an active, relational practice. Rooted in care, repair, and coexistence. Constructed from textiles taken from my own wardrobe, originally set aside for donation, the work carries traces of personal history and daily use. By reworking these materials rather than discarding them, compassion becomes embedded in the act of making itself. The piece is inspired by the agricultural landscapes of rural Georgia, where ground and water seamlessly intermingle to sustain life. I wanted it to mirror that quiet interdependence, allowing fabrics and materials to overlap, support one another, and exist without strict boundaries.
Untitled - by Abby Bojalad
My work explores the connections that exist between compassion and relationships, as compassion can exist both within oneself and for family and loved ones. The small house replica, pictured in the bottom right corner of my painting, was a gift from my partner – a personalized replica of my freshman dorm. He had sent an image to an online vendor to have made personally; he spent days on end sending various pictures from different angles to ensure that the gift was as special as possible. Though this act of compassion may seem small to an outsider, it meant more to me than he could have imagined. Compassion means knowing someone – what they value, what they love, and what they view as important in life – and expressing this outwardly and meaningfully. Ultimately, this piece reflects how compassion, in all its subtle forms, strengthens the most treasured relationships in our lives.
