RELEASE
AnExhi bi t i onandPr ogr am Se r i e s onGe nde rJ us t i c eandMas sI nc ar c e r at i on OnVi e w:Fe br uar y26-J une30,2015
RELEASE
An Exhibition and Program Series on Gender Justice and Mass Incarceration February 26 - June 30, 2015 Leeway Foundation The Philadelphia Building 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832 Philadelphia, PA 19107 Gallery Hours (by appointment only): Monday through Friday from 10:00am - 5:00pm. Call 215.545.4078 to schedule your visit. Venue is wheelchair accessible.
ABOUT THE EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION AND EXHIBIT TOUR Thursday, February 26, 5:30 - 8:00pm RELEASE aims to provide shared spaces for women, transgender, and gender non-conforming survivors of the prison industrial complex, local artists, cultural producers, and activists to critically reflect and build power for change. The exhibition includes a collection of portraits and narratives curated by Chicago-based activists Mariame Kaba and Rachel Caidor. Mariame and Rachel follow the history of women who have been incarcerated as a result of self-defense, dating all the way back to Celia, a slave who killed her owner, up to the recent federal case surrounding Marissa Alexander. The original artwork by Micah Bazant, Molly Crabapple, Billy Dee, Bianca Diaz, Rachel Galindo, Lex Non Scripta, Caitlin Seidler, Cristy Road, and Ariel Springfield are accompanied by ephemera and artifacts (from Mariame’s personal collection), documenting the campaigns that demanded the freedom of some of these women. The other half of the exhibit showcases paintings by Philadelphia artist and Leeway grantee Mary DeWitt (LTA ‘10, ACG ‘09, WOO ‘03, ‘00). Her portraits narrate the stories of women serving life sentences without parole in Pennsylvania. Mary scrawls text from interviews directly onto the portraits, and audio of the women’s voices complement each piece, offering insight into their lives and the conditions they have faced. Opposite Page: Cyd Berger by Mary DeWitt, 1996
ABOUT MARIAME KABA & RACHEL CAIDOR Mariame Kaba is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with the long-term goal of ending youth incarceration. Her work focuses on ending violence, dismantling the prison industrial complex, and supporting youth leadership development. Kaba has a long history of educating and organizing against violence. She has co-founded several organizations including the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women, the Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team, and the Chicago Freedom School. Kaba runs the blog Prison Culture where she writes about issues of juvenile justice, prisons, criminalization, and transformative justice. Rachel Caidor has worked in Chicago rape crisis and domestic violence crisis centers since 1997. She has been active in Incite! Women of Color Against Violence and was a founding member of the radical feminist dance troupe, Pink Bloque. She currently works at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
LIST OF WORKS Bernadette Powell, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Billy Dee
Joan Little, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Micah Bazant
Cassandra Peten, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Molly Crabapple
Juanita Thomas, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Caitlin Seidler
CeCe McDonald, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Micah Bazant
Lena Baker, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Bianca Diaz
Celia, 2014 Charcoal on paper Bianca Diaz
Marissa Alexander, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Molly Crabapple
Dessie Woods, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Rachel Galindo
New Jersey 4, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Lex Non Scripta
Free Marissa, 2015 Inkjet on archival paper Cristy Road
Rosa Lee Ingram, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Billy Dee
Inez Garcia, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Bianca Diaz
Yvonne Wanrow, 2014 Inkjet on archival paper Ariel Springfield
ABOUT MARY DEWITT Mary DeWitt (LTA ‘10, ACG ‘09, WOO ‘03, ‘01) began working in prisons almost immediately after she finished her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in 1988. She taught painting to men and women in the state correctional system, traveling throughout Pennsylvania. She has continued to work with the same women for over 25 years, repeatedly painting portraits and recording the thoughts of a select* group of women sentenced to life in Pennsylvania. Marilyn Dobrolenski, one of the women featured in the exhibit, recalls the 1972 landmark Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia, which struck down the death penalty across the United States, rescuing her and Sharon Wiggins from death row and corporal punishment. Sharon Wiggins, or Peachie, as she was called, died in 2013 at the age of 62. She was the longest serving life-sentenced woman in Pennsylvania. She describes being 15 years old and living alone on the streets of Pittsburgh after the death of her grandmother, who raised her. Betty Heron and Cyd Berger were severely battered women in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, before battered women’s syndrome was defined as a legal defense. Rose Dinkins, Betty Heron, Roxanne Severcool and Cyd Berger speak about the loss of their relationships with their children. Marie Scott relates the struggle of children of incarcerated parents. All of the life-sentenced women presented here are first time offenders.
*The staff and administration at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy selected this group of women in the early 1990’s based on their conviction that each woman deserved to be pardoned. Currently, Pennsylvania prisons hold approximately 5,100 people serving life sentences and is one of only six states that deny parole to lifers.
LIST OF WORKS Betty Heron, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20” x 20”
Rose Dinkins, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20” x 20”
Cyd Berger, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 15” x 14”
Rose Dinkins, 2009 Oil on clayboard 20” x 16”
Cyd Berger, 1997 Acrylic on canvas 60” x 60”
Roxanne Severcool, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20” x 20”
Marie Scott, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20” x 22”
Sharon Wiggins, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20” x 20”
Marilyn Dobrolenski, 1996 Oil and graphite on mylar 20”x 20”
Sharon Wiggins, 2014 Oil and graphite on mylar 48” x 36”
Marilyn Dobrolenski, 2009 Oil on clayboard 20” x 16”
Profits from work sold in this exhibit go directly to the artists. A price list is available upon request.
New Jersey 4 by Lex Non Scripta, 2014
PROGRAMS & EVENT S Leeway Foundation and Bread & Roses Community Fund have partnered with local organizations to present the following programs in conjunction with the RELEASE exhibit: COMMUNITY TOWN HALL Wednesday, March 25, 5:30-8:30pm Friends Center - 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 What are we afraid will happen if we center women, transgender, and gender non-conforming people in the effort to end mass incarceration, detention, and deportation? Participants will explore this question and work together across social movements to investigate the building of safe communities that don’t rely on imprisonment and punishment. This event is open to all. SPECIAL SCREENING OF OUT IN THE NIGHT AND FREE CECE TRAILER Tuesday, April 21, 5:30-8:30pm Drexel University URBN Center - 3501 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 The Free CeCe documentary trailer will be followed by the premiere of Out in the Night. These two films offer firsthand accounts of how acts of selfdefense against gender-based violence have impacted the lives of those involved. Out in the Night filmmaker Blair Dorosh-Walther, will be joined by one of the film’s subjects and members from Hearts on a Wire — a local organization of trans and gender variant people building a movement for racial and economic justice — for a post Q&A with the audience. For more information, please visit www.leeway.org/events
ABOUT LEEWAY FOUNDAT ION The Leeway Foundation supports women and trans artists and cultural producers working in communities at the intersection of art, culture, and social change. Through our grantmaking and other programs we promote artistic expression that amplifies the voices of those on the margins, promotes sustainable and healthy communities, and works in the service of movements for economic and social justice. Executive Director Denise M. Brown Program Director Sham-e-Ali Nayeem Communications Director Denise Beek Program Assistant Melissa Hamilton Communications Assistant Irit Reinheimer Communications Intern Nicole Myles Exhibit Installation Sean Stoops
Contact Info Leeway Foundation The Philadelphia Building 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 832 Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.545.4078 phone 215.545.4021 fax info@leeway.org www.leeway.org @leewayfound
ABOUT BREAD & ROSES COMMUNITY FUND Bread & Roses Community Fund provides grants and technical assistance to support communities in the Philadelphia region that are taking collective action to bring about racial and economic justice. Since 1977, Bread & Roses has distributed over $10 million. Executive Director Casey Cook Director of Programs Aarati Kasturirangan Office Manager Maura Kelly Project Manager Caitlin Quigley Program Assistant Carol Anne Ferlauto
Contact Info The Philadelphia Building 1315 Walnut Street, Suite 1300 Philadelphia, PA 19107 215.731.1107 phone 215.731.0453 fax www.breadrosesfund.org @breadrosesfund
COMMUNITY PART NERS RELEASE is presented with the support of our community partners: 1Love Movement Address This! Art Sanctuary Attic Youth Center BlackStar Film Festival Books Through Bars City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Restorative Justice Program Decarcerate PA Feminist Public Works GALAEI Gender Reel Girls Justice League Hearts on a Wire I’m Free Institute for Community Justice Juntos Let’s Get Free Morris Home
National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women PA Innocence Project People’s Paper Co-op PhillyCAM Reconstruction Inc. Scribe Video Center Sisters Returning Home The Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation Trans Justice Funding Project Trans Oral History Project Trans Wellness Project Victim/Witness Services of South Philadelphia, Inc. Why Not Prosper? William Way LGBT Community Center Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project
www. br e adr os e s f und. or g|www. l e e way. or g