Curated from within prison, The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison through Art explores truths about women and incarceration. For this immersive multimedia exhibition, co-curators Tomiekia Johnson and Chantell-Jeannette Black asked eight currently and formerly incarcerated artists to reflect on their relationship to their bed. For some it’s a place of safety and privacy, for others isolation and angst. Spanning murals, paintings, audio narratives, and an immersive prison room installation, the artworks and stories are varied—no two alike.
In conjunction, YBCA will present If I Give You My Sorrows: Women Exposing Prison through Dance, which investigates these same themes through an elegant and imaginative apparatus-based dance performance. Dancers float, fly, and spin on two suspended beds engineered to hold the isolation and dreaming that women in prison live through.
Both the exhibition and dance performance share the same inspiration: a poem by co-curator Tomiekia Johnson, in which she describes her bed as ‘the only door I can open.’ In addition to Johnson, the performance also features the voices of Betty McKay and Lisa Strawn, both formerly incarcerated women.
Join us to experience these profoundly moving pieces, and step inside the artists’ unique perspectives on women in prison, privacy, and creative expression.
YBCA Galleries
Entry to YBCA Galleries is free on Wednesdays and second Sundays.
*Free admission for Youth, Military Personnel, and Museums for All.
Employees of other museums with current valid staff ID receive free general admission for themselves and one guest. Entry ticket must be obtained onsite at YBCA’s Ticketing desk.
Exhibition admission is free for individuals who are system-impacted. If this applies to you, please let us know at the front desk upon entrance.