(Photos credit: Rafael De Jesus, The Way It Is, 2014. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy the collection of Janie Paul)
The Michigan Justice Fund, in partnership with the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan, and MOCAD, has unveiled a new exhibition called Free Your Mind: Art and Incarceration in Michigan. The exhibit aims to showcase the inner worlds of incarcerated individuals and address the fundamental issues that shape conversations around incarceration today. The exhibition will take place in Mike Kelley’s Mobile Homestead at MOCAD from April 14 to September 3, 2023.
Free Your Mind is the product of a coalition of over a dozen organizations, which includes artists and advocates who have experienced the criminal legal system firsthand. Many of the artists featured in the exhibition are either currently or formerly incarcerated. The exhibition is centered around four key topics: Michigan’s length of sentencing and overcrowding in prisons, the impact of incarceration on women, youth incarceration, and the dangers of COVID-19.
According to the Michigan Justice Fund, there were 64,000 incarcerated residents in Michigan in 2021. Furthermore, nearly 253,000 people in Michigan are currently under the carceral umbrella of jail or prison, probation, or parole. Michigan is the 10th state in the U.S. for the most incarcerated people.
The exhibition will also include a portrait series that highlights leaders working to address systemic issues of mass incarceration statewide. The exhibition seeks to stimulate imagination and activate bold, solution-driven responses towards creating a more equitable and just world.
Michigan Justice Fund Director Ashley Carter said, “The Michigan Justice Fund is proud to support the Free Your Mind exhibition, which seeks to center and amplify voices and perspectives that we rarely hear – those of the incarcerated. This exhibition underscores the urgency of the current moment, and forces us all to grapple with the impact that incarceration has on individuals, their families, and our communities at large.”
Free Your Mind: Art and Incarceration in Michigan is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Steven L. Bridges, Senior Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, and Janie Paul, Senior Curator and Co-founder, Annual Exhibitions of Art by Michigan Prisoners, a project of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan.
The Michigan Justice Fund is a funders’ collaborative that makes investments to stem the flow of individuals into the criminal justice system, supports the investment of public dollars to community-driven alternatives to incarceration, and works to ensure that those who are returning home after incarceration receive the support they need to flourish. Since its inception in 2020, the Michigan Justice Fund has committed $20 million, and over $9 million has been deployed to organizations throughout the state.
About Post Author
