I Heard it Before I Ever Saw it: Tattooing and the US Prison System (2022)
By Tamara Santibañez
Tattooing is a practice that intervenes upon one of the most politically contested territories: the body. Interdisciplinary artist Tamara Santibañez examines the power of tattooing as it encounters the prison industrial complex, conducting oral histories of narrators with firsthand experiences with these encounters. From arrest intake and police profiling, to learning to tattoo on the inside, to being forbidden to tattoo by conditions of parole, these narratives illuminate lesser-known aspects of state control and people’s resistance strategies to reclaim autonomy.NOTE: This exhibit opens Thursday, April 28th.
Click here to RSVP for the opening reception!Then be sure to check out the upcoming LIVE EVENT with the curator
Thursday, April 28, 5:30 PMWhat Do Stories Do? Abolition in Oral History
Abolitionist language and ideas have been absorbed into the mainstream consciousness like never before, thanks in large part to the uprisings for Black lives catalyzed by police murder and political education efforts by Black organizers. Ted Cruz menacingly waved a copy of “The End of Policing” on national television, and “defund the police” is lately more often audible as a lobbying slogan than a protest chant. Accompanying abolition’s ascent into visibility (and transformation into political specter) is the erasure of the practical care work and organizing that sustains abolitionist efforts, begging the question: how do we ensure that increased awareness connects to increased action? RSVP here!