Debra Brehmer is fundraising
Art Against the Odds: Wisconsin Prison Art
Dear friends,
I am reaching out to ask if you would contribute to a project near and dear to me.
Two years in the making, Art Against the Odds is a museum-scaled exhibition of art from Wisconsin prisons. Organized by Portrait Society Gallery of Contemporary Art and its affiliate, On The Wing, the show opens on January 19, 2023, at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. It will travel to three additional cities for a two-year run.
The exhibition provides visibility to 50 artists from many of Wisconsin's 36 penal institutions, representing the 41,000 incarcerated individuals in our state. Art offers these makers a sense of humanity beyond their criminal records. Sharing this work mitigates the isolation and dehumanization of the carceral system.
The complexities of this project -- staff, framing, editors, correspondence, art storage, catalog production, designers, photography, inventories, grant writing, and meetings -- require support at every level.
We have already produced an audio script with our fiscal receiver, Feast of Crispian, a veterans theatre organization. We are collaborating with MIAD to build two installations and develop programming. Conversations are underway with the Wisconsin Humanities podcast, Human Powered, and Chicago Public Radio's WBEZ. This project has fostered many connections, including the collaboration of our primary consultant, Shannon Ross, of The Community.
If your donation arrives before October 15, we will be able to include your name on the support page of the catalog. This page will document a community of friends. It will also reflect our collective willingness to reassess social structures at a critical time in history.
Please consider contributing if you believe that art can foster an understanding of complex socio-political and personal conditions. For incarcerated individuals, art is a survival tool.
The United States maintains the highest level of incarceration in the world. Wisconsin ranks number one for the disproportionate incarceration of Black males.
Thank you wholeheartedly!
REWARDS
$50 to $100 donation: A set of Art Against the Odds postcards
$100 to $500 donation: A beaded necklace by incarcerated artist Matthew McAfee or a miniature landscape painting by M. Winston.
$500 or more: A 180-page exhibition catalog and an original work of art from one of the 50 artists.
Dominic Marak, Portrait of a Prisoner, Joe Hecht, 2021. Junk food wrapper collage (top) and graphite drawing. Part of the Mugshot series.
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