"Through the Fog" Casey Seamans

Casey Seamans, Fort Smith, AR
Through the Fog, 2025
Photography on metal
8 x 12”

The view behind my house is different every morning. On this morning, I had to peer through the fog to see the beautiful autumn trees changing their color in the distance. As soon as I snapped this picture, the image struck me as a physical metaphor for this year's Annual Invitational theme…or more poignant, how and why the idea of common ground continues to elude us. Sometimes you must look hard to see the beauty of things…our humanity, our common ground, as it is constantly being obscured by the fog of negativity, uncertainty, and fear.

The things that make life meaningful for you are the exact same things that make life meaningful for others: family, children, career, friends, community, physical and mental health, the society we live in, our freedom and independence, the faith, love, and compassion we were all born with. Focus on these things, not the fog. These ideas and values will always be our common ground.