Visual Arts Center

Through Their Eyes: Children’s Art in Times of War and Peace

Now–January 4, 2026

Jerstad Gallery

Artwork By

Eyob Mergia, children from Ethiopia and students from Susan B. Anthony and Eugene Field Elementary Schools in Sioux Falls, SD.

In this Exhibition

This powerful exhibition juxtaposes hundreds of drawings from children in peaceful Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with emotionally charged works from children in war-torn regions of Ethiopia. The work reveals how children instinctively express trauma, joy, memory and resilience through drawing — an ancient, universal language that predates speech.

This project, curated and envisioned by artist Eyob Mergia, is both an artistic and moral statement. The children’s artworks expose the realities of conflict and the possibilities of peace — documenting life through unfiltered lines and honest emotion. Mergia challenges viewers to see children not just as passive victims or innocent dreamers, but as visual historians and truth-tellers whose work deserves space in museums, not because of novelty, but because of its raw, revelatory power.

The exhibition also includes Mergia’s own mixed media works that blend painting, collage and layered surfaces with themes of memory, ancestral mark-making, care and protest. Eyob’s original work alongside the work of children reveals a powerful contrast — and a shared humanity. In war, children draw what they remember: shattered homes, lost families and fear. In peace, they draw what they imagine: joy, community, light and hope. These are not just pictures — they are testimonies.

This show is as much a protest as it is a celebration — a call to reject war, restore humanity and reimagine art as an ethical practice that confronts reality and inspires collective care.

Through Their Eyes asks:

If children can reveal the truth with such clarity, what justifies our inaction?

And what kind of world are we drawing for them in return?

After graduating from the Ethiopian Fine Arts Institute in 1997, Eyob Mergia moved to the United States where he continued his studies at Augustana University in Sioux Falls, SD and UNLV in Las Vegas, NV. Mergia describes his work as an “intuitive experimentation of ideas within the language of art”, allowing him to dissect the existence of everyday elements. With his abundant source of inspiration, Mergia’s unique lens captures his authentic journey of discovery.

Sponsored by

South Dakota Arts Council support is provided with funds from the State of South Dakota, through the Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

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