WISCONSIN PRISON ART EXHIBITION
Dominic Marak, Self Portrait with Tumors, 2021. Collaged paint samples on paper, 14 x 11 inches
Exhibition catalog
178 pages
Essays by Debra Brehmer, M. Winston,
Tonen O'Connor, Jessica Wolfendale
and Adam Procell
Artist bios and images
Designed by Jena Sher
Printed by The Marek Group
Edited by Diane Bacha and Kurt Chandler
Photography by Daniel McCullough
Dimensions:
10 x 8 x 0.5 inches
Perfect bound
178 pages
ISBN: 979-8-218-09012-8
WISCONSIN PRISON ART EXHIBITION
Upcoming
Neville Museum, Green Bay
March 16 through May 19, 2024
Previous
June 4 through August 6, 2023
Free admission
Free Saturday guided tours, 1 p.m.
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
273 E. Erie Street, Milwaukee
January 19 through March 11, 2023
Art Against the Odds is a statewide prison art exhibition, organized and curated by Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art, Milwaukee, WI through its related project On the Wing (supported by fiscal receiver Feast of Crispian). With approximately 60 artists participating, the exhibition looks at the many incarcerated individuals who turn to art to survive. The project generates visibility for this invisible population, bringing a sense of humanity to the carceral system. A first of its kind, this professionally mounted, museum-scaled project showcases several room-sized installations, an environment created out of hand-written or typed letters, and hundreds of works of art, including painting, sculpture, knitting and beadwork. The exhibition is divided into six thematic sections that look at different aspects of art that is made in confinement.
Inaugural exhibition
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
SPECIAL EVENTS
Closing Reception
Friday, March 10, 2023
5 to 8 p.m.
Come celebrate the conclusion of Art Against the Odds. Snacks, drinks, and reflections by the exhibition curators and artists.
Film Screening
Master of Light
Tuesday, January 31 (6 p.m.) FREE
Oriental Theater, 2230 N. Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee
Presented in conjunction with The Community, Represent Justice, and Milwaukee Film.
Master of Light (2022) is a new documentary about George Anthony Morton, who spent 10 years in prison, and since
his release, “is doing everything he can to defy society’s unlevel playing field and tackle the white-dominant art world.”
This event is free but please reserve a spot here.
Panel discussion
Thursday, February 2 (7 p.m.) FREE
Correcting the Narrative: Realities and Reform In Our Prison System
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie Street
Introductions: Peter Goldberg, former public defender
Moderator: Shannon Ross, The Community
Panelists: Bill Lipscomb, Adjunct Professor at Marquette and Former Federal Prosecutor; Claude Motley, Subject of the Emmy winning documentary “When Claude Got Shot,” Founder of The Forgiveness Project, Crime survivor, and Victim Rights Advocate; Cecelia Klingele, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Wisconsin Madison Law School, Former Law Clerk to Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens; MIllie Lee, formerly incarcerated, public speaker.
The event is free but please reserve a spot here.
MIAD Student led panel
Wednesday, February 8 ( 6 to 7:30 p.m.) FREE
Narratives of Privilege: MIAD freshman class panel discussion
Professor Zoe Darling
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie Street
This panel presents various community members who will be interviewed by students about how they see and experience privilege and discrimination.
Panel discussion
Thursday, February 9 (7 p.m.) FREE
Carceral Aesthetics: Making art in prison
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 273 E. Erie Street
A group of formerly incarcerated artists including John Tyson, Sarah Demerath (moderator), and Joshua Gresl will discuss their work.
FUNDING AND SUPPORT
Bader Philanthropies
Brico Fund
Anonymous Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Mary Nohl Fund of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation
Heil Family Foundation
Herzfeld Foundation
The Buck Family Foundation
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
Lisa Groskopf-Gleason
Marianne and Sheldon Lubar
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
Feast of Crispian (Fiscal receiver)
More than 150 individuals also supported this project!
"One of the most powerful and fundamental ways to challenge the disposability of people particularly people locked away behind walls, is to make their full humanity more visible to the broader public.
Our criminal system's ability to accomplish mass human caging to an extent never before recorded depends on ignoring and erasing the people and stories of the human beings upon whom we inflict unspeakable suffering"