Get to know multidisciplinary artist jackie sumell before she takes the podium at our next Artist Lecture on November 19, 2024. The series brings highly acclaimed international artists, writers, and critics to the school throughout the year, and each lecture is free and open to the public.

sumell is a prison abolitionist and artist dedicated to the stories of the incarcerated.

For more than 20 years, sumell has worked closely with incarcerated individuals, including long-term collaborations with Angola 3 members Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, sumell exhibits across the U.S. and Europe, exposing the harsh realities of solitary confinement and advocating for humane reform within the U.S. prison system.

sumell’s collaboration with Herman Wallace inspired the 2013 Emmy Award-winning documentary “Herman’s House.”

One of her most notable works explores the dream home of Herman Wallace, who spent over 40 years in solitary confinement. This collaboration not only led to an Emmy-winning documentary but also sparked international awareness and conversation about the inhumanity of solitary confinement.

sumell is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow.

Now in 99th year, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation named sumell among its 188 fellows for 2024, recognizing her as a trailblazing artist who is helping redefine the role of art in social justice movements. sumell has also been awarded numerous other fellowships and residencies, including the 2023 Christian A. Johnson Fellowship, 2022 Margarite Casey Foundation Fellowship and Art 4 Justice Fellowship, among others.

In sumell’s practice, gardening is a metaphor for abolitionist change.

Solitary Gardens is a project that invites people to plant gardens in spaces equal to the dimensions of solitary cells, a creative act that transforms spaces of isolation into symbols of hope. Through workshops and partnerships, sumell’s project emphasizes growth, community, and the potential for a world without prisons.

Join us on November 19 at 5:30 pm in Kresge Theatre to hear more from jackie sumell. Full details here.