Salons at Stowe is a monthly community conversation series that invites participants to engage in open, facilitated dialogue on today’s most pressing social questions.

The opening installment of Salons at Stowe is inspired by the themes of Amanda Mendoza’s exhibition, What Does It Mean to Be Human, currently on view at the Stowe Visitor Center. For our second gathering, we turn to two foundational topics:

“How can we see others as human?”
“And building empathy for who we don’t understand”

Together, these questions invite participants to explore belonging, dignity, and the deep impact of who is—and is not—recognized fully within our communities and systems. This conversation invites curiosity, vulnerability, and shared reflection as we consider how humanity is affirmed, diminished, and reclaimed.

About the Facilitators

Gamze Ozker, Researcher

Amanda Mendoza, Artist

Amanda Mendoza

Artist, muralist, and curator Amanda Mendoza is dedicated to creating work that fosters advocacy, resilience, and community healing. Her artistic philosophy centers on the power of art not merely to decorate, but to transform—to help communities see themselves, connect across difference, and imagine new possibilities. As the Stowe Center for Literary Activism’s Artist of Color Accelerate, Mendoza brings both artistic insight and lived experience to the conversation her exhibition inspires.

Gamze Ozker

Gamze Ozker holds an M.A. in Human Rights from the University of Connecticut. Guided by a commitment to honoring human dignity and fostering dialogue across differences, she brings a human rights lens to the exhibition’s exploration of belonging and solidarity.