'Voices in Time: Lives in Limbo' Gives Voice to Women and Girls in Prison for Women's History Month
In celebration of Women's History Month, Beyondmedia Education and CLAIM (Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers) will host a series of events that will focus on incarcerated women and girls. The series will include performances and panel discussions featuring former prisoners, leading scholars and activists, including Laura Washington, Beth Richie and Bernardine Dohrn. All events are free and open to the public.
Topics to be covered are:
Race and Gender in the Prison System, Friday, March 5;
Children and Parents in Prison, Thursday, March 11;
Forms of Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex, Friday, March 19;
Reentry: Challenges and Opportunities, Thursday, March 25.
The highlight of the series is an original art exhibition created by women and girls serving time in prisons, jails and detentions centers across the country. One father of an incarcerated woman took the red eye flight from California to hand deliver his daughter's ceramic sculpture pieces, only to turn around and go back the same day. Proceeds from the art sales will benefit the artists. The exhibition will also feature Beyondmedia's interactive, multimedia installation, Voices in Time: Lives in Limbo, which recreates a prison cell through the eyes of female prisoners.
The Illinois Humanities Council recognized Beyondmedia's Women and Prison project with its 2003 Lawrence Towner Award for imagination and risk-taking in the development and execution of a public humanities project.
Opening night will be Friday, March 5 at 7:00 pm (reception at 6:00 pm) and the location for all the events will be Las Manos Gallery, 5220 N. Clark, Chicago. Please call (773) 973-2280 or (773) 216-5556 for additional gallery hours.
Beyondmedia Education's mission is to collaborate with under-served and under-represented women, youth and communities to tell their stories, connect their stories to the world around us, and organize for social justice through the creation and distribution of alternative media arts.
Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers (CLAIM) provides legal and educational services to help imprisoned mothers protect their bonds with their children; and advocates for policies and programs to benefit families of imprisoned mothers and to reduce incarceration of women and girls.
These events are funded in part by 8th Day Center for Justice, Center for Democracy in a Multiracial Society-UIUC, Chicago Foundation for Women, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network, Critical Resistance, Crossroads Fund, DePaul Women's Studies, First Bank and Trust, Girl's Best Friend Foundation, Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, Karen Hunt, Illinois Art Council - a state agency, Illinois Clemency Project for Battered Women, NEIU Women's Studies and Mexican & Caribbean Studies, Salad Spinners, Windy City Media Group, Woods Fund of Chicago.
