Caption, from left: Community member Ms. Sheri helping prime the way; Jess in front of one of their prior murals; community members on the night shift transposing the mural image onto the wall.

Supported by co-facilitators ARTLC Steering Committee Member Nataliya Braginsky and graduating Hillhouse High School student Elsa Holahan, the Intergenerational Abolition Project met earlier this spring and summer, sharing from readings, identifying seeds and struggles, drafting an emergent abolitionist agenda, and imagining a visual manifestation of where we are working from and toward. For more event images, see here.

The project’s mural component is now officially underway at Possible Futures in New Haven. The mural features Ruth Wilson Gilmore, the celebrated geographer and abolitionist scholar, who was born and raised in this very city. This mural is designed and installed by the amazing Jess X. Snow with input and assistance from community members. A resource-rich website will also be developed to accompany the mural as a teaching tool.

Mural installation will wrap up during the first week of September with an official unveiling event in October, where Ruth Wilson Gilmore will be the guest of honor. Stay tuned via ARTLC and Possible Futures for more details about the mural and the ongoing work of the Intergenerational Abolition Project, which will reconfigure itself upon mural completion!