Jesse Krimes

Raybrook

2020

Raybrook, 2020

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Raybrook by Jesse Krimes takes its name from The Federal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook (FCI Ray Brook), a medium-security United States federal prison for male inmates located in Essex County, NY. In addition to its indexical title, this quilt-work tapestry is made from personal clothing and other like articles the artist was given by currently, and formerly incarcerated persons. It is part of a larger series of works called the Elegy Quilts, which illustrate domestic scenes inspired by conversations the artist has had with the individuals these fabrics were acquired from. While Raybrook, and each of the Elegy Quilts, poetically depict constructed memories of a “home” long lost by those forcibly removed from their own, the artwork also features an empty chair to signify a multitude of implied sitters whose self and identity were erased by the oppressive penal system, as well as being a symbol for those who have died in custody.

Jesse Krimes is an artist, curator, educator, former inmate, and activist whose work tackles and fights the US prison-industrial complex. The utter failure of the US prison system is one of the most grotesque social-ills facing America. Krimes, who is a central member of an expanded community of formerly detained artists working to correct these ills, is also one of the leading practitioners in the country dealing with the justice system through the means of both art and activism. Krimes's adroit approach to his subject matter is of course informed by the experience of his own confinement; his technique is forged and stamped by the material constraints of prison life. Krimes has worked on issues concerning detainment with Amnesty International and the Ford Foundation, for whom he was a 2018 Art For Justice Initiative Fellow, as well as a successful co-plaintiff against JP Morgan Chase in a class-action lawsuit in which the bank was charged with price gouging ex-convicts enrolled in an inmate debit card program post-release.

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Jesse Krimes Raybrook

Jesse Krimes

Raybrook