Barring Freedom highlights the role of the arts in cultivating critical engagements with issues of prisons, policing, and justice in the United States. At the center of Barring Freedom is an contemporary art exhibition and a participatory public art project emphasizing the different strategies artists use to bring into sight the social, racial, and economic workings of the nation's criminal justice system. Related online artist talks and discussions on the theme of Visualizing Abolition feature artists, scholars, and activists who share a commitment to imagining alternatives to the injustices. This website documents and archives the exhibition, public art project, and events, while also providing digital tools and study guides to further explore issues of art and justice. READ MORE...

Visualizing Abolition is a series of online events organized in collaboration with Professor Gina Dent. With artist talks, film screenings and discussions, the series intends to challenge how mass incarceration, the racist brutalities of policing, and the biases of the court have been normalized within the social landscape and political vision of America—and to imagine a world beyond these unjust systems. Event information is below, and the archived videos will be posted as they become available.