SaveArtSpace in partnership with Norwest Gallery of Art is proud to present Sustain-A-City: Art for Environmental Justice, a public art exhibition on billboard ad space in Detroit, MI, starting September 12, 2024, curated by Asia Hamilton.

This exhibition will explore the intersection of environmental justice, sustainability, and cultural resilience. Highlighting how marginalized communities bear the brunt of environmental degradation while celebrating their efforts to reclaim and protect their natural spaces. Merging art, activism, and storytelling to advocate for equitable environmental policies and practices.

These artworks should offer powerful visions of a resilient and sustainable future for the city.
Our goal is to center art as a tool to envision a community at its best—a thriving, environmentally friendly ecosystem. 

“By placing these messages in public view, we empower the community to see sustainability as something accessible,
urgent, and community-driven.”

We invite artists of all ages and talents to submit their artwork between June 20 and July 28, 2025. This is an opportunity to have your work exhibited on billboard ad space in Detroit, MI.

Open call for art ends July 28, 2025. There is a small donation per image submission to participate, each donation is tax deductible and goes to producing the public art. Selected artists will be announced after August 11, 2025. Public art will be on view starting September 12, 2025 in Detroit, MI, and will be one view for at least one month.

Curator

Within the Detroit community, Asia Hamilton advocates for women and non-binary artists of color, and in her northwest Detroit community, through her gallery and her work as a commissioner on the City of Detroit Entertainment Commission. As a native of the Crary/St Mary’s neighborhood, Asia has witnessed first-hand how revitalization efforts in Detroit have largely overlooked the northwest side. And as a woman artist of color, Asia has experienced the barriers that women of color face in gaining exposure and recognition in the art world.  These experiences inspired her founding of Norwest Gallery of Art in 2018, her creation of Womxn House at her childhood home, and her advocacy on Detroit’s Entertainment Commission. Her experiences as an accomplished international artist, a woman of color, and a longtime resident of Detroit’s northwest side make her uniquely qualified to lead this initiative. Through her work, Asia seeks to build up BIPOC womxn artists, bring exposure and investment to the community where she grew up, and make the northwest side a hub for international artistic expression and collaboration. Asia opened the Norwest Gallery of Art, a community-based contemporary art gallery focusing on African Diaspora art. Asia has participated in many community arts projects and won the 2018 and 2021 Knight Arts Challenge.

Connect with Asia at @photo.sensei.

Participating Organizations

Norwest Gallery of Art is a distinctive and exclusive space specializing in Contemporary art. Situated at the intersection of culture and opulence, our gallery is a premier destination for art enthusiasts, collectors, and connoisseurs seeking elevated and culturally resonant artistic experiences

Connect with Norwest Gallery of Art at @norwestgallery.

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a message of social change that benefits the working class. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.