Arts and Culture

Photo Exhibit “Degrees of Visibility”  Surveys U.S. Prison System, Opens in San Francisco

Published

7 years ago

June 7, 2017

“Degrees of Visibility,” an unprecedented photographic survey of the US prison system by Ashley Hunt, opens Friday, June 9 at the Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics, 7 p.m. – 9 p.m., 518 Valencia St. in San Francisco.

The exhibit, documenting over 250 prisons from all 50 states and US territories, is traveling to San Francisco, following its 2016 debut in Atlanta. The open features the release of a limited edition broadsheet and presentations by Bay Area organizations.

“Degrees of Visibility” remains open to the public through Tuesday, June 20.

Partnering with local organizations engaged in the discussion of today’s prison industrial complex, the exhibition is set up as a community platform for contemplation, discussion and strategy.

Each image in “Degrees of Visibility” is shot from a publicly available point of view and titled according to the number of people hidden within it.

Building upon the histories of Landscape Photography and its critique within Critical Documentary practice, “Degrees of Visibility” studies how contemporary prison architecture renders its punishment both hidden and illegible to the public, enabling today’s massive scale through its camouflage within the everyday.

“Degrees of Visibility” follows 17 years of Hunt’s dedication to prison issues, which began with his time-based media installations, “Housing, Process, Movement” (2000) and the feature documentary, “Corrections” (2001).

Beyond taking the prison as only a subject matter however, his work has consistently challenged how we think about audience and the function of art in relation to it, pushing against the separations between formal art spaces and those of organizing, while asking, in partnership with grassroots partners, what can this work do?

“Degrees of Visibility” extends his investigations into the spaces where we encounter prisons each day, often with little or no sense of what we have or have not seen.

The work studies this as a “politics of appearance, an aesthetic organization of our environment that has political effects, effects that are as integral to mass, industrial-scale imprisonment as its walls, fences, weapons, laws and cages,” according to Hunt.

As recent political changes in the U.S. threaten to reinvest in strategies of mass policing, surveillance and incarceration, and thus in their disproportionate impact on the poor and communities of color, we draw the attention of writers and members of the press to this exhibition, to its unique approach to art and political representation, and its involvement of important constituencies in San Francisco.

Hosted by the Center for Political Education, the June 9 opening event will include the release of a “Degrees of Visibility” limited edition broadsheet, featuring a conversation between Hunt and Rachel Herzing and Isaac Ontiveros staged at the historic free, Black settlement of Allensworth, California.

The evening also include brief statements from local organizations, including the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Critical Resistance, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Freedom Archives, TGI Justice Project, and the Underground Scholars Initiative.

For more information contact Rachel Herzing co-director, Center for Political Education, at rachel@politicaleducation.org, or Isaac Ontiveros co-director, Center for Political Education, at isaac@politicaleducation.org

For more info on the artist, click here. More information on the exhibit can be found at Degrees of Visbility.

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Related Topics:Art Ashley Hunt culture degrees of visibility photo exhibit prison system San Francisco US prison system

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Arts and Culture

Richmond Preps for Full Weekend of Cinco de Mayo Festivities

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival. The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Scene from the 2023 Cinco de Mayo parade from Richmond to San Pablo. Photo courtesy The Richmond Standard.

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

Cinco de Mayo festivities in Richmond and San Pablo are some of the bests in Bay, and organizers say that tradition will be alive and well at this weekend’s annual parade and festival.

The action kicks off Saturday, May 4, with the 16th Annual Cinco de Mayo Richmond/San Pablo Peace & Unity Parade. The parade of floats, performances, and community organizations starts at 10 a.m. at 24th Street and Barrett Avenue and Richmond and ends at 12:30 p.m. at St. Paul’s Church, 1845 Church Lane in San Pablo.

The parade’s Grand Marshall this year will be community organizer Diego Garcia, owner of Leftside Printing.

The festivities continue Sunday with the Cinco de Mayo Festival along 23rd Street, which last year drew over 100,000 people, according to the 23rd Street Merchants Association. This year’s festival will again run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. between the intersections of Rheem Avenue and Clinton Avenue. It will feature two entertainment stages, one sponsored by La Raza 93.3 FM at 23rd and Rheem, and another sponsored by Radio Lazer FM at 23rd and Clinton.

Both events are important for the city and the region’s Latino community.

San Pablo Mayor Genoveva Calloway, who co-chairs the parade alongside John Marquez, president of the Contra Costa Community College District Board of Trustees, says Saturday’s festivities are about bringing the Richmond and San Pablo communities together in unity.

“This truly connects the spectators and people in the parade as one,” Calloway said. “The parade showcases the real communities of Richmond and San Pablo – our nonprofits, schools, horse riders, classic cars and trucks, our local businesses. All of these people represent the heartbeat of our community.”

Rigo Mendoza, vice president of the 23rd Street Merchants Association, said that at its heart, Richmond’s Cinco de Mayo Festival celebrates the date the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

But John Marquez started up the popular festival to bring the community together and also to exhibit the community’s businesses and culture to visitors, Mendoza said. The gathering was also a way to promote peace in the community.

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Art

Mario Van Peebles’ ‘Outlaw Posse’ Screened at Oakland’s Grand Lake Theatre

Published

2 days ago

May 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Film director Mario Van Peebles, who also stars in “Outlaw Posse,” appeared at a press conference held at RBA Creative on MacArthur Boulevard hosted by the Oakland International Film Festival. Photo By Carla Thomas.

By Carla Thomas

The Oakland International Film Festival hosted a screening of “Outlaw Posse” at the Grand Lake Theatre on Monday. Special guests included director/actor Mario Van Peebles and his co-star, Oakland native Scytorya Rhodes. The film is Peebles’ second western, the first being ‘Posse,’ 13 years ago. Filmmaker Van Peebles shared his passion for independent artistry and producing projects with his son, Mandela, who also starred in the film, along with Whoopi Goldberg and Cedric the Entertainer. Next week, The Post will publish an in-depth interview featuring Peebles’ reflections on his work, future projects, and continuing his father’s legacy and Rhodes on her grandfather, a real-life cowboy.

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Arts and Culture

Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 20, 2024

Oakland Post

Kedrick Armstrong is the new music director for the Oakland Symphony. Photo credit Scott Chernis.

By Post Staff

The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.

Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.

Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.

Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.

The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.

Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.

Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”