my heart is strong because I walked on blistered feet features the vibrant and expressive paintings of James Kuol Makuac (b. South Sudan, 1976; lives in Nashville) whose work reflects a life spent navigating between worlds. For nearly twenty years, Makuac has cultivated a practice of contemporary Sudanese painting that tells impossible stories of human tragedy and simultaneously speaks to survival and hope, grief and joy, surrender and determination.

The exhibition is part of  Somewhere We Are Human, the 2024-2025 Public Programs and Engagement Series of the Engine for Art, Democracy & Justice (EADJ) at Vanderbilt University, curated by Grace Aneiza Ali. It is organized around the thematic north star—Somewhere We Are Human—a collective vision for a time and space where no one’s humanity is ever in question. The year-long series looks at the city of Nashville and the American South through a lens of migration, exploring the ways immigrant communities have shaped the region’s history and are envisioning its future through art and activism.