MoMA PS1 to Display Artworks Made by People in Prisons
Exploring state repression, erasure and imprisonment in “Marking Time.”
MoMA PS1 in New York City is planning a sprawling exhibition that will display artworks made by people in statewide prisons. Titled “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” the show will explore themes related to state repression, erasure and imprisonment. “With more than two million people currently behind bars in the United States, ’Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration’ underscores how prisons and the prison industrial complex are central to contemporary art and culture,” said the museum in a statement.
Curated by Dr. Nicole R. Fleetwood, the works to go on show reflect on the personal experiences of incarcerated artists. These bodies of work also shed light on the material constraints of creating work in prison, but also the possibilities of utilizing limited resources to shape art. “‘Marking Time’ features works that bear witness to artists’ reimagining of the fundamentals of living—time, space, and physical matter—pushing the possibilities of these basic features of daily experience to create new aesthetic visions achieved through material and formal invention.”
Works by formerly incarcerated artists will also be displayed in the presentation, offering different perspectives on life outside of carceral conditions, but showing the impacts of the U.S. prison system. Accompanying the exhibition will be a series of public programs, education initiatives and ongoing projects that explore the cultural and social impact of mass incarceration. Moreover, the show will signal the release of Fleetwood’s eponymous book in relation to the show. Participating artists include Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter aka Isis tha Saviour, Sara Bennett, Conor Broderick, Keith Calhoun, among others.
View select works in the slideshow above and then visit MoMA’s website to learn more. MoMA and MoMA PS1 are temporarily closed due to COVID-19.
Elsewhere in art, a couple that painted over a Black Lives Mural are facing hate crime charges in three misdemeanor counts.
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
