The hidden lives of incarcerated women, illuminated by art
NEW ORLEANS — A new exhibit that recently appeared at the Newcomb Art Museum in New Orleans forces us to engage a side of society normally out of sight: the lives of incarcerated women.
Until last year, Louisiana was the prison capital of the world. The state incarcerated one out of every 75 adults. According to a 2016 report by the Vera Institute of Justice, 80 percent of the women in the prison system are mothers. Additionally, 82 percent of women are in jail for nonviolent offenses. Women in jail are also disportionately black and Latina. Regarding the incarceration of women, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lyench has said, "When you incarcerate a mother, you actually incarcerate a family."
For Dolfinnette Martin, being a parent was the "hardest piece of being in prison."
"Every day, I worried about my kids, every single day," she told LPB's "Art Rocks," adding "my crime isn't who I am."
To illuminate these women's experiences, curators at the Newcomb Museum connected artists with current and former inmates to create the traveling exhibit "Per(Sister)." They went out and interviewed 30 formally incarcerated women in the community and documented their stories. The museum then asked 30 artists to interpret these women's stories through various mediums of art.
"Art is a very benign, safe vehicle to talk about things that we may not talk about with our families, we may not talk about in our communities," the museum's director Mónica Ramírez-Montagut said, adding that the exhibit is "informally educating the community about the issues around incarcerated women and to build better empathy and understanding on the root causes for the high incarceration rates in the state.
The exhibit is expected to travel to other cities this year.
This report originally appeared on LPB's "Art Rocks."
Support Canvas
Sustain our coverage of culture, arts and literature.
Colum McCann's Narrative 4 organization is bringing the power of story to students in a time of division. The project…
Growing up in South Africa, internationally celebrated opera singer Pretty Yende hadn’t even heard of opera until she was almost…
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria found that 13 authors who sued Meta “made the wrong arguments.” But the judge also…
The untitled film will be the first since Amazon MGM Studios took creative reins of the storied film franchise after…
Arthur Sze, one of the most acclaimed poets of our time, is celebrated for exploring the natural world, the human…
Researchers believe it was a gunboat built in 1775 to defend Philadelphia. They don't know all the places the boat…
BTS is expected to reunite later this year. The K-pop group routinely breaks records and are credited for bringing the…
Unless you’re a longtime jazz aficionado, you might only know the names and music of a handful of stars and…
Comedian and illustrator Mo Welch has built a career blending sharp humor with emotional honesty. Her recent special, "Dad Jokes,"…
A new biography, "Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson," tells the story of the Black transgender pioneer’s…
A week ago, 11 of the 12 members of the board overseeing the prestigious Fulbright Program, which promotes international educational…
Cruise, choreographer Debbie Allen and “Do The Right Thing” production designer Wynn Thomas have all been selected to receive honorary…
A doctor charged with giving Matthew Perry ketamine in the month leading up to the “Friends” star's overdose death has…
How lost are we without our devices? Or putting it more simply, as novelist Colum McCann might: just how isolated…
Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader whose genius for melody, arrangements and wide-eyed self-expression made him one…