The Drawing Center
Meet the Chicago 400: Lessons in the Carceral State
Winter Term 2020
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Jan 25, 2020Our Fellow Americans: A Symposium on Public Conviction Registries
The Drawing Center
Winter Term is an initiative that investigates drawing as a tool for addressing inequity and encouraging social change. Building upon themes presented in the exhibition The Pencil Is a Key: Drawings by Incarcerated Artists, The Drawing Center has partnered with the Chicago 400, a grassroots campaign of formerly incarcerated and convicted people experiencing homelessness in Chicago, and artist, policy advocate, and researcher Laurie Jo Reynolds.
This iteration of Winter Term explores the intersection of drawing and criminal justice reform, specifically as it relates to fear-based policies, the unintended consequences of public registration laws, and the expansion of the carceral state. This exhibition of drawings produced by the Chicago 400 will culminate with a public symposium, featuring programming that expands upon the Chicago 400’s ongoing advocacy work.
“Editors’ Picks: 20 Things Not to Miss in New York’s Art World This Week: As always, there is a lot to see in the city,” Artnet News, 20 Jan. 2020. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/editors-picks-january-20-2020-1752261
With work that operates at the juncture of legislative reform and artistic practice, Laurie Jo Reynolds challenges the demonization, warehousing, and social exclusion of people in the criminal legal system. Her recent work focuses on conviction registries, housing banishment laws, and public exclusion zones, which destabilize families and lead to homelessness, unemployment, and re-incarceration. Reynolds is an Assistant Professor of Public Art, Public Policy, and Media in the Department of Art at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As part of her ongoing advocacy work, Reynolds is coordinating an alliance to support the Chicago 400.
The Chicago 400 are Chicagoans with past convictions who are listed on a public conviction registry—most of whom are also subject to lifelong housing and public space banishment. Because they are also experiencing homelessness, they must report and re-register weekly at Chicago Police Headquarters. The penalties for missing even one day of registration are extreme—often resulting in a prison sentence or a decade of additional registration time. This complex maze of laws often forces people and their families into dire situations, such as sleeping in their cars, camping overnight outside the police station, living in trains and buses, losing employment, and becoming homeless with their families.
The Chicago 400 work with a variety of partners—including victim, criminal justice, and housing advocates, as well as re-entry specialists, treatment providers, prison watchdog groups, and faith ministries—in an effort to direct scarce state resources toward proven policies for public safety. Together, the Chicago 400 and their partners seek to reduce victimization, support crime survivors, and allow people with past convictions to meet their essential needs and return to full citizenship. They are currently working to introduce reform legislation in January 2020.
In weekly meetings, the Chicago 400 produce visual materials including hand-drawn diagrams and maps that depict the logistics of carrying out registration laws, including their weekly journeys to the police station. These drawings have allowed the group to communicate their experiences to legislators and other system stakeholders, for whom these laws and their impact are largely invisible.
Winter Term 2020: The Chicago 400: Lessons in the Carceral State is organized by Rosario Güiraldes, Assistant Curator. This show was made possible by The Drawing Center Exhibition Fund and the MacArthur Foundation. Special thanks for ongoing support and inspiration to Illinois Humanities, Art for Justice, and Open Society Foundations, along with Chicago partner organizations Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Treatment Alternative for Safe Communities (TASC), Kolbe House Jail Ministry, and John Howard Association of Illinois.