132 Calls

132 Calls: A story of love, institutional indifference, and death in a Chicago jail is the story of Cassandra Greer-Lee and her husband Nickolas Greer, who passed away from Covid-19 while he was awaiting charges at Cook County Jail in Chicago. This campaign for justice was created in 2020 in collaboration with Cassandra Greer-Lee, Coalition to End Money Bond, Definition Theatre Company, The Confined Arts, Make Yourself Useful, and Zealous. I collaborated with my friend and fellow Make Yourself Useful collective member Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson to create the animation.

On January 13, 2021, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act as part of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus’ criminal justice reform bill, HB 3653 SFA2, which would make Illinois the first state in the nation to abolish cash bail.

During the 2022 election cycle, the law was subjected to a multi-million dollar misinformation campaign. As of January 2023, the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act is on hold due to a lawsuit filed by State’s Attorneys challenging the constitutionality of the law. (information via Illinois Network for Pre-Trial Justice)

BUILD PRESENCE

Build Presence was created by a collective of artists and activists. In 2015 we created pop-up spaces for study, political action, and artistic expression with the aim of providing a more communal, embodied experience for processing white supremacy and acting against it, as so much political education and expression takes place online. These images are from our first event, hosted in the Public Studio of Alexandria Eregbu at the Chicago Cultural Center. Subsequent events took place at Woman Made Gallery and via the Chicago Home Theater Festival. 

20 neighborhoods

In 2012 & 2013, I directed 20 Neighborhoods, a two-year community-based workshop and exhibition series in partnership with twenty Chicago neighborhood, housing, arts, and social service organizations. On behalf of Woman Made Gallery, I worked with 25 teaching artists to design curriculum around themes of self, family, community, and city. Over 100 women and youth participants worked together to create sculptures and design exhibitions across lines of neighborhood, ethnicity, gender, and ability.

Neighborhood gift exchange

In 2011 I created a 150-person, 2-day art-gift exchange and photo exhibition at Milwaukee Avenue Arts Festival.