Join us for a print portfolio release party and readings from the forthcoming book titled: The Long Term: Resisting Life Sentences, Working for our Freedom (Haymarket Books, ed. Alice Kim, Erica Meiners, Audrey Petty, Jill Petty, Beth Richie and Sarah Ross).

Prints by artists: Ivan Arenas, Elizabeth Brent, William Estrada, Eric Garcia, Maria Gaspar, Ryan Griffis, Aaron Hughes, Sam Kirk, Damon Locks, Nicole Marroquin, Dave Pabellon, Claire Pentecost, Sarah Ross, Fred Sasaki and Monica Trinidad. 

Readings by: Tara Betts, Elizabeth Brent, Daniel Cooper, Monica Cosby, Deana Lewis, Orlando Mayorga, and Maria Moon. 

About: 

15 Chicago-area artists were invited to create original Risographic prints in response to essays from the book, written by educators, activists, incarcerated people and formerly-incarcerated people. 

The book and print portfolio are part of a series of thematic works around long-term sentencing policies and the other long terms they produce: long-term struggles for freedom, long-term loss in communities, and long-term relationships behind the prison wall. These projects emerged out of collaborative work between artists, writers and members of the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project at Stateville prison. Many of those imprisoned there are serving extraordinarily long prison terms (60, 70, and 80 years), often for crimes for which they would have already been released, had they been sentenced 30 years earlier, or in a different country. The portfolio of prints is one of the many attempts to make visible how punitive policies and incarceration negatively shape our communities, families, and ultimately, life-chances. 

This project is organized by Aaron Hughes, Dave Pabellon and Sarah Ross

Printing by Matt Davis at Perfectly Acceptable Printing

*Image Credits from left to right: Ryan Griffis, Monica Trinidad, Sam Kirk, Nicole Marroquin, Damon Locks, William Estrada