Arkansas, In Pieces and Together: An Installation by Olivia Trimble

Created especially for the Arkansas Folklife Festival, this immersive installation by Arkansas artist Olivia Trimble transforms community voices into a vibrant three-dimensional landscape of place, memory, and identity.

Featuring hand-painted wooden cutouts of iconic Arkansas people, places, traditions, foods, landscapes, and cultural symbols, the installation draws directly from stories, ideas, and themes shared by Arkansans during the festival’s statewide community engagement process. Representing all six of Arkansas’s culturesheds (the Delta, North Central, Northwest, River Valley, Southeast, and Southwest), the work reflects how residents across the state see themselves and what they believe makes Arkansas unique.

Part folk art, part community portrait, and part cultural map, the installation invites visitors to wander through a visual celebration of Arkansas’s living traditions. Familiar landmarks stand alongside beloved foods, musicians, crafts, natural wonders, and everyday cultural touchstones, revealing both the diversity of Arkansas experiences and the common threads that connect them.

Positioned at the festival entrance, the installation serves as a gateway into the Arkansas Folklife Festival and The People’s 250: a reminder that Arkansas culture is not defined by any single story, place, or tradition. Instead, it is created collectively by the people who call this state home.

As you enter the festival, take a moment to explore the installation and see how many pieces of your own Arkansas story you can find among the hundreds of images contributed by communities across the state.