During Winter Term 2003, the Lane Hall Gallery will present "Sentenced," a body of work in
video and photography by Carol Jacobsen, artist and Associate Professor of Art
and Women's Studies. The project premiered in New York City in June, sponsored
by Amnesty International USA, and coincides with Amnesty's current worldwide
campaign against human rights abuses in U.S. women's prisons, as documented in
its report, "Not Part of My Sentence." The video, which will be
presented by the artist in her talk at the Institute during the semester, takes
the viewer on a brief journey inside the dark corridors of a Michigan women's
prison. It is narrated by, and dedicated to Connie Hanes, a woman who recently
committed suicide in her cell. The photographic works on view are based on
correspondence, drawings and documents of more than a decade standing, between
the artist and the inmates with whom, and for whom, she works. She is a
Coordinator of the Michigan Battered Women's Clemency Project, ACLU, seeking
freedom for women wrongly convicted. The Clemency Project recently submitted 13
petitions for clemency to Governor Engler, but all were denied.
The exhibition is also sponsored by the University of Michigan Office of the Vice President for Research, School of Art and Design, and Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York City. A catalog is available, courtesy of Denise Bibro Fine Art, with an essay by Nina Felshin, author of "But is it Art? The Spirit of Art as Activism" published by Bay Press.
Carol Jacobsen's award winning documentaries and installations on the issue of women's criminalization have been exhibited and screened throughout the U.S. and abroad, including at Lincoln Center, Artists Space, the Alternative Museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Kunsthalle in Bonn, Temple Gallery in Rome, the Brussels International, the International Women's Conference in Beijing, and elsewhere.
Selected bibliography for Carol JacobsenCarol Jacobsen will give a talk on the exhibit on Thursday, February 13, 2003. Visit our calendar of events for more details.