Welcome to the movement

“Art, Prisons, and Freedom” is an event exploring the possibilities for creative practices to transform society’s relationship to prisons, the criminal justice system, and the people impacted by incarceration. Nearly 2 million people are confined in prison in the United States, almost half-a-million people have not yet been convicted of a crime, and nearly 1 in 3 Americans have a criminal record. It should be no surprise that prisons impact all of us. Unsurprisingly, artists and writers both inside and outside of prison have been at the heart of reimagining what justice and freedom might look like in the future. “Art, Prisons, and Freedom” features a panel of regional curators, writers, and artists examining the impacts of mass incarceration through their work. Risa Puleo is an independent Chicago based curator who produced Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the American Justice System for the Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston. Jennifer Bowen is the founder and artistic director of Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop, the largest and most enduring prison-based literary organization in the nation. We will also be joined by Antonio Williams, author, publisher, activist, and founder of T.O.N.E. U.P. Inc.