The Kimball Art Center will present its final exhibit, “Gaze Into These Eyes,” in partnership with the Center for Art and Advocacy.
Center for Art and Advocacy Deputy Director Carly Fischer said the exhibit features artists who have been incarcerated and is focused on portraiture.
“There are some pictures of faces, but there are also some more disembodied sculptures that feel like you can see that a body has existed there, but it's different than something that you see in its whole,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Thursday. “There's text-based work that conjures up images of the body.”
Some of the exhibition’s pieces were made while the artists were incarcerated; others after the artists were released. Jesse Krimes, the Art and Advocacy founder, collaborated with incarcerated artists on his artwork after his own release.
Fischer said while the featured art may not engender policy changes, it can close the compassion gap.
“It makes space for people to see each other,” she said. “It makes space for conversation in some of our most intractable issues, things that feel like we can never find a way to see eye to eye.”
The Center for Art and Advocacy is based in Brooklyn, but features artists nationwide. Founded in 2022, the nonprofit supports all kinds of artists — from filmmakers to musicians and writers — who have spent time in U.S. prisons, jails or detention centers.
Fischer said the center selects six artists each year and gives them $20,000 to support their work. The nonprofit has supported 42 artists so far.
“In that list of artists where we were often the first funder, many have gotten Pulitzer Prizes, MacArthur Genius grants,” she said. “It really has proven that there is incredible talent in this community, and also that there's a real need and desire from the public to be able to uplift and highlight these voices.”
Kimball Executive Director Aldy Milliken said the art center wanted to partner with the Center for Art and Advocacy to elevate its mission.
The exhibit opens Sept. 26. Milliken said Kimball will host a panel discussion with the artists on Nov. 12.
