Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women in Louisiana

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The Life Quilt, 2018, features the names of 107 women serving life sentences in 2017 in Louisiana complied by Selina Anderson of the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women (LCIW) Drama Club. The names were hand-beaded by members of the following Black Masking Indian gangs: Golden Feather Hunters, Creole Osceola, Washitaw Nation, Wild Magnolias, Cheyenne Hunters, Young Masai Hunters; the center portrait created by Brandan‘BMike’ Odums features the late Mary Turner, Founding LCIW Drama Club member and Lifer; and the entire piece is sewn together by Louise Mouton Johnson. The Life Quilt was produced by The Graduates, co-created and co-sponsored by ArtSpot Productions and Kumbuka African Drum & Dance Collective. At the time of its creation, The Graduates were Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellows; and The Life Quilt, along with a Louisiana tour of their performance “Won’t Bow Down!” were supported in part by grants from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Alternate ROOTS Partners in Action Program, made possible by support from Nathan Cummings Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Surdna Foundation. Image courtesy of the Newcomb Art Museum.

Saturday, January 19, Newcomb Art Museum celebrates the opening day of its powerful new exhibit, Per(Sister): Incarcerated Women in Louisiana. This all-ages event offers plenty of opportunities for both entertainment and education, as well as chances to creatively engage with the exhibition and its subject matter. Per(Sister) highlights social justice issues surrounding women in prisons and the skyrocketing rate of their incarceration, and, just as importantly if not more so, aims to address the humanity of the women behind the statistics, using art as an access point to restore names, faces, stories, and lives that too often get lost in the discussion.

The opening day activities will continue throughout the afternoon and evening, including a rhymes, rhythm, and rock workshop held by the Young Audiences of Louisiana, a food truck, tye-die, a scavenger hunt, a reading of INK literary magazine, a dramatic performance from The Graduates, and more. Criminal justice advocates will be present to discuss community and policy issues and how to get involved. A panel on the art and women involved in the exhibition followed by a celebratory closing reception finishes the day. 2 pm – 8 pm. Free.

Per(Sister) will be on display at the Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane University through July 6. Additional programming, all free and open to the public will be held during the run of the exhibition; complete schedule and more information at newcombartmuseum.tulane.edu. 

[Read James Fox-Smith's story on the Per(sister) exhibit, featuring one of the women honored and the artist who tells her story, from our April 2019 issue.] 

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