A look inside the opening of Mission Belonging’s new exhibition by Belena Stuart‑Marquez at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, exploring the landscapes, memories, and stories that shape us.
Last week, Mission Belonging premiered Farm to Field: Echoes of Home, a new exhibition by veteran artist Belena Stuart‑Marquez, and curated by Valerie Acosta, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center. The opening brought together members of our community and supporters for a night defined by the simple, brave act of people sharing what they’ve made — and trusting a room full of others to receive it.
For those who couldn’t attend, we’ve gathered a window into the evening — and for anyone in the Alexandria area, we hope you will visit and experience the exhibit in person.
We are deeply grateful to the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center for hosting the exhibition and for creating a space where this community could come together around art that speaks to belonging, memory, and the places that hold us.
About the Exhibition
In Farm to Field: Echoes of Home, Belena Stuart‑Marquez draws on the landscape as a form of emotional cartography — mapping the terrain of memory, displacement, and return. Raised in the farmlands of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she learned to orient herself by the ridge lines: constant, unhurried, indifferent to time. When she deployed to Afghanistan, she carried that instinct with her.
In the military, to be “in the field” means to be in an austere environment, facing the reality of a war zone. Yet in Afghanistan, Belena found mountains full of yellows and golds that echoed the shapes of home. On foot patrols through desert farmlands and bazaars, convoys to small villages, and over chai with local leaders, she encountered familiar forms in unfamiliar colors — sunflowers instead of roses, pomegranates instead of apples, chukar partridges instead of chickens.
The collection pairs the agricultural landscape of Virginia with memories of rural Afghanistan, honoring the parallels that sustained her. What emerges is not a record of conflict, but a meditation on what endures: the stolid presence of mountains, the persistence of growing things, the quiet comfort of terrain that does not shift easily.
More than a decade later, Belena revisits the desert not through the urgency of a patrol, but with a gentler observance — working in watercolor, acrylic, pastels, paper, and sand to redraw the narrative of her own experience. This exhibition is an act of reclamation: of the delicate details war obscures, and of the enduring feelings that connect us to home.
Photo Gallery: Opening Night & Artwork Highlights
Use the left and right arrows to navigate the photo album.
Visit the Exhibit
The gallery remains open through November at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center:
📍5000 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA
If a particular piece resonates with you, or if you’d like to experience the work in person, we invite you to visit. You can reach Belena directly via email. She welcomes those conversations, and purchasing her work is its own act of support for the artist and the community this exhibit serves.
Explore the full digital version of the exhibit here: https://missionbelonging.org/hilton/2026-farm-to-field-echoes-of-home/
