Exciting News: Future IDs at Alcatraz in The Economist!
Sharing a belief that cultural problems demand cultural solutions, a committed group of arts and social justice advocates created Future IDs at Alcatraz, a socially engaged art project, exhibition, and series of community programs about justice reform and second chances after incarceration.
Artist Gregory Sale, together with core project collaborators Dr. Luis Garcia, Kirn Kim, Sabrina Reid, Jessica Tully, and many others, worked to translate advocacy and reform efforts into a visual language to reframe the narrative of reentry.
The resulting exhibition featured ID-inspired artworks created by and with individuals with conviction histories as they conceived and developed a vision for a future self. The exhibition also acted as a container for a series of community programs, co-created with over 20 community partner organizations.
Presented in partnership with the National Park Service and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, Future IDs at Alcatraz ran from November 2018 through September 2019. The iconic venue in the San Francisco Bay provided a poignant context as the country’s most recognizable “prison museum,” national park, birthplace of the Native American Red Power movement, and International Site of Conscience.
Future IDs at Alcatraz centered the reentry community and other system-impacted individuals, amplifying their voices and holding civic space for stories of trauma, transformation, and resilience.