Our exhibitions invite the public to learn about freedom, care, accountability and struggles against criminalization and incarceration through thematic exhibitions, diverse voices and often untold perspectives. We collaborate with curators, artists, and cultural makers and feature work from currently and formerly incarcerated artists, as well as artists from the free world. We believe that cultural work precedes political work. In this way our gallery shows art that reflects the experiences of people impacted by the carceral system and ignites our imagination toward decarceration and abolition.
CURRENT
Prison Papers: Organizing Inside/Outside Solidarity — July 11, 2026 to October 15, 2026
Prison Papers: Organizing Inside/Outside Solidarity examines how prison newspapers facilitate exchange and solidarity across prison walls. Drawing on archival materials, interviews, art, and writing, the exhibition traces a lineage of prison newspapers from their boom in the 1960s and ’70s, through their near disappearance in the ’90s, to the present resurgence in inside/outside publishing. At a moment when free speech in the U.S. is under attack and print media is increasingly inaccessible to incarcerated people, the need to sharpen our organizing strategies has never been more urgent. These publications offer an intimate view into how prison newspapers have connected inside and outside communities in a shared struggle to overcome the censorship and segregation endemic to the carceral state. By examining how these papers are made, circulated, and used to challenge censorship and inhumane carceral conditions, Prison Papers offers critical insight into how we might forge deeper bonds with incarcerated communities to organize for freedom and liberation.
UPCOMING
Upcoming Exhibitions
War Abolition
Presented as a part of Resisting the Long War: 2026 Veteran Art Triennial & Summit October 29, 2…
PAST
The Digital Archives of the Unseen
Poetry and Portraits from the Age of Censorship and Detention January 30th, 2026 – May 24th, 2…
606 Da Vault
606 Da Vault brings together graffiti artists from Southside Chicago including Mongo, Neto, Curse, …
Between Sky and Sea
In a time of war, siege, and silence, the photography exhibition “Between Sky and Sea” arrives in Ch…
Writing from All Sides of the Moon
This show features writing and visual art by members of the Writ112 writers’ collective, found…
We Will Have Our Spring
February 2025 We Will Have Our Spring is an exhibition which engages the relationships between envir…
Undoing the Carceral State
A visual protest against injustice October 2024 – January 2025 Undoing the Carceral State is a…
Reckless Law, Shameless Order
An Intimate Experience of Incarceration June 21, 2024 – October 2024 Reckless Law, Shameful Or…
It Ain’t That Funny
Comics by Arkee Chaney and artists at Stateville Prison Jan 27 – May 31. 2024 Political cartoo…


