LEWISBURG W.Va. (WVDN) – On Nov. 7, Our Neighbors: Other Americans (ONOA) will open at The Museum Gallery at Carnegie Hall in Lewisburg, WV. There will be a Carnegie Hall Art Walk from 5:30-7 p.m. on Nov. 7. The Gallery’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ONOA exhibit will be open for viewing until December 31.
On 21 November 2025 at 6 pm. Carnegie Hall WV in Lewisburg will host an event in collaboration with the ONOA exhibition, Celebrating Hispanic Culture. This event will feature guest presenters Emily and Roderico Y. Diaz of Iximche Media. Based between Guatemala and the U.S., Roderico Y. Diaz is an indigenous Maya Kaqchikel independent photojournalist and documentary videographer and recipient of the Rubenstein Library Digital Storytelling Award. His work has focused on the struggle for justice after the genocide in Guatemala (1960-1996), indigenous rights, the legacy of colonialism and the lives of migrants living in the U.S. His perspective is informed by his own migration experience and as a survivor of the genocide in Guatemala. As a freelance photojournalist Diaz has worked for the Associated Press, The Guardian, and The Assembly.
Our Neighbors: Other Americans is an exhibition and teaching project that was originally developed in 1991/2 by cultural worker/educator, photographer, activist, community organizer and baker Jeffrey P. Kessler.
Many may know Mr. Kessler as a baker and owner of Jeff’s Breads. Prior to his almost 40 year career as a baker Kessler spent more than a half decade of travelling, photo -documenting, and working in Mexico and Central America. ONOA sprouted from the desire to share the rich and profound personal histories and experiences of the many folks and places that are interwoven into our American histories and futures.
Kessler created ONOA in 1991-1992 while many in the world were gearing up to condemn, celebrate or/and assess the 500 year anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the “Americas”. The project explored the lasting effects of the colonization of the Americas by examining the relationship between the United States and two different Central American countries, Guatemala and Nicaragua. At that time the exhibition travelled around the schools (K- adult), museums, universities and communities of WV and beyond. The original ONOA project was sponsored by The Southern Appalachian Labor School Foundation and funded by The WV Humanities Council, The Herman Goldman Foundation, The Central American Solidarity Association of Beckley, The Mercer County Peace Coalition, and the Abner and Mildred Levine Foundation
ONOA is a free standing exhibition made up of twelve panels mounted mainly with analog color photographs and silver gelatin prints accompanied by historical quotations, oral histories, testimonials and descriptive or literary captions. For a deeper immersion into ONOA content, and for educators there is an Our Neighbors: Other Americans Exhibition Teaching Guide (1992).
While the exhibition was developed during a different epoch. One may notice that the themes and paradigms that are explored in ONOA follow a through line which resonate today. Our Neighbors: Other Americans provokes the inquiry, “How do I want to treat my neighbor? How do I want my neighbor to treat me?”
Kessler says, “I cherish both humility and steadfast tenacity. These are the traits I see echoed and reflected in the lands and peoples in many parts of the world, these are the qualities I see embodied by my neighbors in West Virginia and my neighbors in Central America.”
For more information: OurNeighbors.OtherAmericans@gmail.com or contact CarnegieHallWV
