Holding Space: Makers Within and Beyond Confinement
Wednesday, October 16, 7pm ET
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Presenter Bios
The intersection of art and incarceration offers significant social impact, building a powerful avenue for healing, empowerment, empathy, and community change within and beyond confinement. Moderated by internationally acclaimed artist Najjar Abdul-Musawwir, Holding Space: Makers Within and Beyond Confinement will explore incarceration through the experiences of four artists whose work deeply engages with the prison system and pursuit of justice in the United States. Russell Craig and Ray Materson both discovered art as a tool for self empowerment while incarcerated and have built active artistic careers since their releases. Ausettua AmorAmenkum brings her extensive knowledge of African, African American and indigenous New Orleans culture to her work with currently and formerly incarcerated women. An artist who spent twenty-five years working as a criminal defense lawyer, Glynn Cartledge’s work explores ideas of criminality, incarceration, recidivism, and justice in America. All of these artists encourage us to think critically about the ways in which we hold space in the arts and in our communities.
Holding Space is an annual event organized by SDA’s Equity, Access, and Integration Committee and is free and open to the public. Holding Space celebrates, educates, and encourages conversation with the intent of building a healthy, active, and diverse fiber community to drive change.
Presenter Bios
Najjar Abdul-Musawwir is an internationally acclaimed artist and is currently a professor of studio arts and art history in the School of Art and Design and Africana Studies at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. He has hosted WSIU PBS TV show, Expressions and has been invited to participate in prestigious international residencies including at the Smithsonian Museum of African Art and in Mthambothini, South Africa with world-renowned artist Dr. Esther Mahlangu, an expert in the traditional style of Ndebele painting and beadwork. Abdul-Musawwir has exhibited his work extensively both in venues around the world.
Russell Craig is a painter whose work combines portraiture with deeply social and political themes. He discovered art as a tool to navigate the prison system and ultimately finds his way to something better. Craig’s work can be found in the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection and has been featured in institutional exhibitions including: Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration at MoMA PS1; an installation at the Philadelphia African American Museum; and Blood, Sweat, and Tears, his first solo exhibition, at Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, among many others. Craig is a Board member of the Center for Art and Advocacy and recently won an Emmy for Best Art Documentary for his feature in MTV’s Art and Krimes by Krimes.
At the age of 30, armed with a toy gun, Ray Materson committed three robberies to support his addiction to heroin and cocaine. Ultimately, arrested and sent to prison for 15 years, he developed renewed faith and was inspired to try his hand at embroidery using thread gleaned from socks and cloth torn from prison bed sheets. His designs quickly drew the attention of fellow inmates as well as galleries in New York City; he exhibits his work frequently and is represented by Andrew Edlin Gallery, Bowery Street, Manhattan.
An artist who spent twenty-five years working as a criminal defense lawyer, Glynn Cartledge’s work explores ideas of criminality, incarceration, recidivism, and justice in America. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including the American Jurisprudence Award, Atlantic Center for the Arts Fellowship; Santa Fe Art Institute Justice Fellowship; Nevada Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship and Project Fellowship; and the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship, among others. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and she has a current solo exhibition at the decommissioned Nevada State Prison in Carson City, Nevada
Ausettua AmorAmenkum is cultural educator, professor of African and Hip-Hop Dance at Tulane University, BigQueen of The Washitaw Nation Black Masking Indians, the Director of Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective and Co-Director of The Graduates, a performance group of formerly incarcerated women. Ausettua is the acting Project Manager of the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Cooperative. She is committed to the preservation, presentation and documentation of African, African American and indigenous New Orleans culture across various artistic mediums.