Co-curated by the How I Survived project and the Yellowknife Artist Run Community Centre (YK ARCC), the exhibit features work by Agnes Kuptana, Agnes Mitchell, Allysa Felix, Antoine Mountain, Brian Kowikchuk, Catherine Blondin, Michelle Gruben, and Pauline Tardiff.

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The artists are northern Indigenous Survivors and intergenerational Survivors who were invited to create artwork reflecting their experiences of residential and day school or the legacies of these institutions in their lives, families, and communities. Their work explores difficult histories while centring the exhibit's overarching themes: presence, strength, love, and creativity. 

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Creativity and art making have a complex history within residential and day schools. Indigenous children were surrounded by Euro-Canadian aesthetics and taught Euro-Canadian artistic forms and practices as part of the schools' broader assimilative mandate. At the same time, art could become a site of resistance and a way for children to capture what mattered to them. Survivors have described moments of feeling free while creating, even if only briefly. Today, Survivors and intergenerational Survivors continue to use art for witnessing, healing, and cultural revitalization.

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At the heart of How I Survived: The Exhibit are stories. Alongside the artwork and artists' statements, an audio installation weaves together the words of Survivors with sounds of the Land, inviting visitors to listen as well as look. The exhibit builds on the How I Survived Podcast, which launched in 2024 and shares in-depth interviews with Survivors about recreation, childhood, family, culture, and life before, during, and after residential and day school.