The special pop-up art exhibit, See Us Differently is part of Sarahfest, the Sarah Isom Center’s annual arts and music festival. The event is the outcome of the formation of two new Sarahfest partnerships. The first partnership is with Common Good Atlanta (CGA), a nonprofit that takes the humanities into the prison system by providing college courses to the currently and formerly incarcerated. The second partnership is with Emory University's Stuart A. Rose Library which is sharing pieces from their Common Good Atlanta archive collection featuring the creative works and writings by CGA alumni.
The exhibit will be at the Powerhouse Community Arts Center on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, from 5 - 7 PM and will include a panel discussion with CGA alumni and participants from the University of Mississippi's MFA’s Program. Both UM’s MFA program and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council are co-sponsors of this event.
See Us Differently is part of an on-going series of presentations and pop-up exhibitions that feature work by CGA students and alumni. Both past and present intersect as we incorporate student work from the past 12 years. The See Us Differently project creates opportunities for CGA alumni to develop and foster relationships in the community in order to break the stigmas surrounding incarceration.
The first See Us Differently exhibition occurred at the Atlanta gallery Eyedrum in 2013. The title came from a thank you note students gave to Sarah Higinbotham (CGA co-founder) after she taught one of her first courses a Phillips State Prison in 2009. The students’ thank you note was an original work of art on a piece of fabric from a torn pillow case. One of the students wrote:
We appreciate you so much for not buying into the usual stereotype that we are not worth educating. We thank you for realizing we were human beings before we came to prison. Through your efforts, the world will now see us a little differently
The See Us Differently exhibition at the Powerhouse represents a small part of a larger archive produced by CGA students and alumni. Works exhibited at the Powerhouse include Michael Foster’s graphic narratives inspired by readings of Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; two handmade books by Noe Martinez, Rise of the Morlocks, and The Threads That Bind Us; an hourglass time machine collaboratively made by students at Phillips State Prison, and a new painting Patrick Rodriguez produced in collaboration with CGA alumni.
As part of the event, we will screen a pre-recorded panel discussion featuring CGA alumni: Katrina Butler, Noe Martinez, Patrick Rodriguez, and Janine Solursh. Alumni will discuss their experiences with higher education in prison and post-release, their work on exhibit at the Powerhouse, as well as their current projects.