“The Collective: Chosen Family” Exhibition

Martos Gallery

poster for “The Collective: Chosen Family” Exhibition
[Image: Jared Owens "The Big House" (2021)]

This event has ended.

The Collective comprises seven artists who center criminal justice reform in their practices, aligned by their shared experiences of incarceration and their commitment to supporting artists who have overcome similar backgrounds. The Collective began with Owens commandeering a small recreation room at FCI Fairton Correctional Facility as an art studio where he met fellow artists Jesse Krimes and Gilberto Rivera. A bond was quickly formed, ideas were traded, and a pact was made to continue their art careers upon coming home. Since 2014 the collective has grown to now include Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter aka Isis Tha Saviour, Tameca Cole, Russell Craig, and James “Yaya” Hough, who had formed their own networks during their respective incarcerations, and find themselves now committed to changing how society views formerly incarcerated artists, a theme that permeates all of their work.

Through the artists’ collaborations, they have founded networks of support, such as the Right of Return Fellowship founded by Jesse Krimes and Russell Craig, as well as garnering encouragement and advocacy from Agnes Gund’s Art for Justice Fund at the Ford Foundation. The work of Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood—her decade of research, seminal book, Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, and subsequent PS1 exhibition—further established these artists and expanded their network. Now, as each artist builds their career independently, they remain bonded through the mutual experiences of incarceration and, more significantly, determination: one another’s Chosen Family.

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Schedule

from September 08, 2021 to October 23, 2021

Opening Reception on 2021-09-08 from 12:00 to 20:00

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