SCRANTON, Pa. — "And Yoko Uno said, 'Only art and music have the power to bring peace," said Pedro Anes, United Nations Association USA Representative.
Those words resonate with the Hexagon Project.
The local non-profit community arts organization believes you can create social and global change using art.
For International Day of Peace, the group brought Oklahoma State University professor, artist, and activist Pouya Jahanshahi to the Artworks Gallery & Studio in downtown Scranton.
"We thought why not integrate the posters for peace with over a thousand hexagons that were made throughout the world and regionally and locally," said Beth Burkhauser, Founder & Director of The Hexagon Project.
The posters are in the electric city to showcase what peace looks like from different perspectives.
Pouya Jahanshahi founded the Posters of Peace Project in 2017 in recognition of World Peace Day.
"We started with Iranian Posters next to American posters for peace to communicate these two contrasting cultures and their desires to have peace," said Jahanshahi.
The Posters for Peace Project has grown globally, with artists from Mexico, China, and India joining the project.
"That to me is I have done my job right. They're thinking about peace, and they're expressing that, and I think if that's a seed I can plant long after I'm gone, I think that plant will grow," explained Jahanshani.
After the presentation, the Hexagon Project held a community peace forum.
"Your city is not just your community. The world is your community hence why you see on all the Hexagon's we're promoting different areas of the world so," said Channel Kearse, Scranton Community Activist.
The hexagon project and other activists at the international day of peace forum...hope this conversation sparks a connection within the community.