Doors to Freedom is a testament to the defiant voices of artists directly challenging authoritarian regimes. Their drawings, images, etchings, and sculptures are evidence that authoritarian regimes try desperately to erase. This installation forces the audience to confront a chilling truth: art does not merely decorate – it testifies, disrupts, and demands. It reminds us that liberty is never guaranteed.
“This installation strips away the idea that art is only ever a polite conversation,” said HRF’s Chief Advocacy Officer, Roberto González. “For these artists, their work is an alarm bell against tyranny, and their sacrifice demands our attention.”
“Art is freedom, and tyrants fear it because it exposes truth. These artists were silenced at home, but here we give them the voice their regimes tried to erase. Doors to Freedom shows that when free people amplify the oppressed, art becomes resistance and freedom finds a way,” said Alian Collazo, executive director of Cuban Freedom March.
Seven Defiant Artists
Every artist featured in Doors to Freedom has been harassed, jailed, or exiled for refusing to remain silent.
- The Gao Brothers (China): Through politically charged performance, photography, and sculpture, these brothers confront the Chinese Communist Party. Their courageous defiance led to Gao Zhen’s ongoing imprisonment in 2024. (The New York Times, BBC, CNN, The Guardian)
- Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (Cuba): A Cuban performance artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement, Alcántara has been imprisoned since 2021 for his challenge to state censorship. (TIME, Hyperallergic)
- Rayma Suprani (Venezuela): Forced into exile for her sharp satire and infamous ‘Salud’ political cartoon, Suprani continues to give voice to the silenced. (The Guardian)
- Song Byeok (North Korea): Once a propaganda painter for the North Korean regime, Song’s escape and subsequent art now reveal the grim state-controlled reality of his former country. (BBC, Reuters, National Review)
- Azza Abo Rebieh (Syria): Rebieh’s stark etchings and multimedia works transform personal testimony into art, documenting the devastating human toll of Syria’s civil war. (The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar)
- Pedro X. Molina (Nicaragua): An exiled cartoonist, Molina wields sharp satire and commentary as instruments of civic resistance against the Ortega-Murillo regime. (TIME)
- Zehra Doğan (Turkey): Kurdish artist and journalist, Doğan spent nearly three years in prison for “spreading terrorist propaganda” following her 2016 painting that depicted Nusaybin, a Kurdish-majority town in Turkey, reduced to rubble by the Turkish military. (DW, Artnet News)
Doors to Freedom stands as a powerful reminder that freedom is the prerequisite for all art. Stay connected with HRF’s Art in Protest program and be a part of this work: connect us with galleries and dissident artists, collaborate creatively, or sustain the program through donations or sponsorships to bring dissident voices to the global stage.
Location: 734 Lincoln Road
