A Revolution of Values is one of the four featured exhibitions of the 2026 Veteran Art Triennial, Resisting the Long War curated by Aaron Hughes, Mohamed Mehdi, and Amber Zora. The Triennial highlights artists’ creative defiance to war and militarism. The featured artworks lift up overlapping legacies of war resistance, presenting alternative visions of peace, healing, and justice generated by diverse communities impacted by war.

In April 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his searing “Beyond Vietnam” speech declaring his opposition to the war in Vietnam. During the speech he named militarism, materialism, and racism as the “giant triplets” threatening American democracy, and called for nothing less than a “revolution of values.”

Just days later, Dr. King led an anti-war march to the United Nations during which, for the first time, a group of Vietnam veterans marched under a banner declaring Vietnam Veterans Against the War. This public act of defiance marked the birth of one of the most radical anti-war organizations in US history, demonstrating that those trained for war could become some of its fiercest opponents.

A Revolution of Values traces this lineage of resistance through the work of veteran artists who have turned away from militarism and toward solidarity. The exhibition opens with archival materials from Vietnam Veterans Against the War and goes on to feature contemporary veteran artists working in diverse mediums — from ceramics and sculpture to photography and video. Together, the artworks celebrate the range of ways veteran artists examine their military experiences, critique militarism, and make the radical turn Dr. King called for.