Learning Social Justice

A handful of years ago I was commissioned to create a poem in response to a photo of the sky outside Auburn Correctional Facility in NY State. I’d led a poetry workshop in a different Correctional Facility for eight years and had become close to the issue of the many systematic issues in the carceral state of the United States. Evelyne Leblanc-Roberge and I crossed paths under the auspices of this work, and she reached out to me to contribute to an ingenious project she was creating and curating for the University of Rochester Decarceration Research Initiative.

This project, The Only Thing I Can See Is The Sky, is now being featured again at SUNY Brockport as part of their Learning Social Justice exhibit. The show runs October 19 – November 12, 2023. Here’s from the description of the exhibit:

What is social justice and how do artists show it through their processes and practice? This exhibition brings together several diverse regional artists and community publishing projects to consider expansive meanings of social justice and desires for equity.

I’m excited the brilliant work Evelyn initiated is getting featured in this exhibit, which promises to expand ideas about how artists can strive through their work to contribute to an ongoing quest for social justice and equity. If you’re in the area, please visit the show. Also, here’s a link to the poem I made for the project and the photo that inspired it: EYE IN THE SKY.