SarahFest Pop-up Art Exhibit Showcases Work From Incarcerated Individuals

Oxonions will have the chance to explore the impact of bringing the humanities into places of mass incarceration when a special SarahFest pop-up art exhibit, “See Us Differently,” will be on display at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center on Sept. 29.

Sarahfest is the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies’ annual arts and music festival that highlights women and queer artists.

“See Us Differently” is a multimedia exhibit comprising bookmaking, paintings, mixed media sculptures, and graphic narratives based on Milton’s Paradise Lost and Shelley’s Frankenstein, which were created by current and formerly incarcerated individuals taking free college courses through Common Good Atlanta.

The exhibit is being brought to Oxford through a partnership with CGA, Emory University and the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies. It is also made possible through co-sponsorships with the Creative Writing Concentration program at the University of Mississippi and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford.

“The event is a chance to bring the archives into a community arts space like the Powerhouse, it enables the Center to bridge communities, and to create new spaces for learning and conversation,” said Theresa Starkey, associate director of the Isom Center.

According to the Common Good Atlanta website, “The act of creating and presenting their work and promoting the CGA also helps to support and fortify formerly incarcerated people as they re-enter free society as citizens and neighbors.”

The exhibit, at the Oxford Powerhouse located at 413 S 14th Street, will only be available Sept. 29 from 5-7 pm. A special program begins at 5:30, with a pre-recorded Zoom call of artists Noe Martinez, Janine Solursh, and Katrina Butler, who were unable to attend the show.

Afterward, there will be an in-person roundtable discussion with Bill Taft, CGA academic director, Patrick Rodriguez, director of advocacy and community engagement and CGA alumnus, and Matt Bondurant, director of the UM Creative Writing Concentration Program.

The event is free and open to the public. Masks are required. For more information about the venue, call the Powerhouse Community Arts Center at 662-236-6429.

For information about the event and to request disability services, visit https://www.sarahfest.rocks.

Staff report