Courtesy of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.
Artist Becky Gottsegen with busts from her collection, ceramic busts to honor 23 men falsely convicted in Louisiana after learning about the work of the Innocence Project New Orleans, a nonprofit organization that seeks to free innocent people serving unjust prison sentences.
There is a certain solemnity—even reverence—suffusing the quiet gallery space displaying the busts of twenty-three men wrongfully imprisoned by the State of Louisiana.
Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted, currently on exhibit at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center in downtown Baton Rouge, features effigies of men incarcerated for a total of 644 years combined for crimes they did not commit. Artist Becky Gottsegen sculpted the ceramic busts to honor the men after learning about the work of the Innocence Project New Orleans, a nonprofit organization that seeks to free innocent people serving unjust prison sentences.
“She wanted to give a voice to the men who had been exonerated. It’s just another way for their stories to live on and [to] really humanize that experience.”
—Sarah Nichols, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Arts Center of Greater Baton Rouge
Gottsegen hopes the portraits will shed light on the plight of innocent men and women incarcerated by the state. In addition to the busts, the exhibition includes informational placards describing the cost of wrongful imprisonment, which include psychological trauma, legal hurdles, health issues, and lack of compensation, among other lingering scars. There is also a section listing causes for wrongful convictions and the impact on families who have an innocent loved one behind bars. Inspirational quotes from civil rights and social justice leaders adorn the room, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, and Elie Wiesel.
“She wanted to give a voice to the men who had been exonerated,” said Sarah Nichols, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Arts Center. “It’s just another way for their stories to live on and [to] really humanize that experience.”
Courtesy of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.
The exhibition, "Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted" at the Cary Saurage Center at the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.
The busts are replicates; each individual depicted has his own, original bust—“to honor them,” according to Gottsegen’s artist’s statement. “I am hoping this exhibition will draw attention to the many innocent people spending years of their lives in Louisiana prisons.”
Grouped evenly on two sides of the room, each bust is distinct—set apart not only by the men’s individual features, but by their stylistic choices. Some wear baseball caps (one a Stetson, another a flat cap), others sport beards, bald heads, or natural hairstyles; they are depicted in bowties, collared shirts, suits, casual tees’s. Several are bespectacled, with real glasses in different styles. Beneath the busts, a plaque lists each man’s name, the age he was incarcerated, the location of his incarceration, the duration of his imprisonment, and the date of his exoneration. A quick glance around the room reveals most of the men were imprisoned in their late teens or early twenties.
Image courtesy of the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.
A bust, created by artist Becky Gottsegen, of Sullivan Walter, a man who, when he was seventeen, was wrongly convicted of a crime that resulted in him spending more than thirty-six years in prison—the longest known wrongful incarceration of a juvenile in Louisiana history.
So often those accused of crimes are associated with the color palette of assumed guilt—an orange or tan jumpsuit, silver shackles, the harsh blues and reds of police lights. Exonerated rejects this narrative; the busts rest on pale gold plinths, the men’s portraits rendered in a bronze hue reminiscent of monuments to notable historic figures. In a similar vein, the expressions on display—perhaps once previously weighed down by assumptions and judgements of a suspicious public when glimpsed on B-roll, or a newspaper’s 1A report—are all happy. The majority of the men depicted wear only the slightest suggestion of a smile, while others appear barely able to suppress their joy as it tugs at the corner of closed lips. Only one of the men—Archie Williams, exonerated in 2019—grins broadly with all his teeth, a vision of unrestrained elation.
Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted, will remain on display through May 14 at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center's Shell Gallery in downtown Baton Rouge. Visit artsbr.org to view a program detailing the names and case stories of each wrongfully incarcerated individual.
