Friday, April 18 | 12:00-1:30 p.m. CT
Featuring:
- Risa Puleo (curator, Walls Turned Sideways)
- Jennifer Bowen (founder, Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop)
- Antonio Williams (artist, T.O.N.E.U.P.)
Moderated by Gabriel Mindel (Visiting MFA faculty, MCAD)
Art, Prisons, & 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, & 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.
This event is supported by Academic Affairs and is co-sponsored by the Liberal Arts Department, the Masters of Fine Arts Program, and the campaign to End Slavery in Minnesota.
Risa Puleo
Risa Puleo is an independent curator. Her exhibition Walls Turned Sideways: Artists Confront the American Justice System was curated for The Contemporary Arts Museum in Houston and traveled to Tufts University Art Gallery in January 2020. Monarchs: Brown and Native Contemporary Artists in the Path of the Butterfly, curated for Bemis Center for Contemporary Art during her year as curator-in-residence, traveled through the summer of 2019 to MoCA North Miami, Blue Star Art Space and Southwest School of Art and Craft in San Antonio, The Nerman Art Museum in Kansas City. Other exhibitions have been hosted by the Leslie Lohman Museum in New York City, Franklin Street Works in Stamford, CT, ArtPace, San Antonio, Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, and more. Puleo has Master’s degrees from the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and Hunter College and is a doctoral candidate in Northwestern University’s art history program. She has written for Art in America, Art Papers, Art 21, Asia Art Pacific, Hyperallergic.com, Modern Painters and other art publications.
Jennifer Bowen
Jennifer Bowen (she/her) is a writer, educator, editor, and the Founding Artistic Director of the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. Her essay collection THE BOOK OF KIN: Essays on Love and Vanishment i s forthcoming from Milkweed Press. Jennifer lives in St. Paul with her dogs and her restlessness.
Antonio Williams
Author, publisher, activist, and leader Antonio Williams is the voice of people who can’t advocate for themselves — and a story of hope. Incarcerated for 14 years, Williams found meaning in mentoring other Black men and organizing them to stand up for their rights, including leading a prison strike that got results. Williams triumphed over his circumstances and now empowers other black and brown returning citizens to help themselves and others by connecting them to resources and offering personal and leadership development, healing opportunities, and political education to fight for legislation like restoring voting rights. Through T.O.N.E. U.P. Inc, Antonio wants to help create a space where people do not have to choose between fighting for their continued liberation and economic viability; he w ants to inspire and help people to heal and rebuild their lives.
Diadem Discos & Library 