Harriet Beecher Stowe Center
77 Forest Street
Hartford, CT 06105
860-522-9258
info@stowecenter.org
In 2020 and 2021, the Stowe Center commissioned two original works of art, one by multidisciplinary artist jackie sumell, director of Solitary Gardens, in honor of 2020 Stowe Prize winner Albert Woodfox, and the second by Judy Dworin of the Justice Dance Performance Project. These projects were designed to use creative expression to explore historical themes and social justice issues today. Both sumell’s Solitary Garden installation and Dworin’s collaborative dance and spoken-word performance, Emergence, address issues relating to incarceration and bridge community-based action with each artist’s creative impulse and practice, as discussed in the accompanying Salon.
Art for Social Justice and Positive Change, Art for Social Justice and Positive Change #3
Running Time: 58:52
Featuring members of the Justice Dance Peformance Project (JDPP) collective cast and returned citizens who participated in JDPP programs while incarcerated, Emergence 2 portrays the extreme isolation and confinement of incarceration through dance, song, and spoken word, while offering hope for a more open, just, and kind world. Both Emergence 1 and 2 are based on the authentic voices of JDPP program participants who reside in or have returned from prison.