Artist: Rebecca Mwase
New Orleans, LA
Vessels is a ritual performance exploring the transcendental possibilities of song during the Middle Passage and within spaces of confinement. The Freedom Chamber, a project created beneath the umbrella of Vessels, will collaborate with organizations in New Orleans organizing against mass incarceration to develop community-created sound sculptures that reflect the experiences of currently and formerly incarcerated people, their families, and communities. The process and the resulting artistic creations will deepen partner organizations’ current organizing efforts, expand civic participation within the wider community, and ultimately help achieve positive policies that disestablish the structures of mass incarceration in New Orleans.