Thursday, August 22
6:00 – 7:30 pm
The District Theater
627 Massachusetts Ave.
The Liberation Center hosts Vernon T. Bateman’s artist talk and tour, featuring three new murals at The District Theatre and other artworks in The Frame Shop. This is a unique opportunity to hear from and dialogue with Vernon, a self-taught artivist–an artist and an activist fighting to save our youth through his programs and curricula designed to stop gun violence that feature morals and character-building solutions in children’s books and in one-of-a-kind paintings. Based in Indiana, his paintings have been exhibited at the Bottleworks District, the Indiana Landmarks Center, and Tomorrow Bookstore, among other venues. His primary media is acrylic, and while his works are in several private collections, most of his pieces are philanthropic, gifts to the community that are also gifts to Vernon, who says he is “grateful for the opportunity to help others.”
Vernon’s latest gift to the public is this triptych of untitled murals, each of which beautifully renders the cultural, environmental, social, and even geological diversity found, but unacknowledged, in Indianapolis. It won’t take long to find a figure, setting, or relationship that resonates with you. The closer you look, the more details that emerge. We see these as details illustrating the tensions and contradictions that make the city what it is: the ability to encounter differences.
The questions Vernon’s works poses are gifts, and to receive them means we—in our unique individual and collective ways—can better acknowledge, understand, and encounter differences. Any response must acknowledge Vernon’s ability to encounter differences and help create our city.
Vernon was unjustly incarcerated for 26 years. despite his undeniable innocence, still isn’t exonerated, at least not yet… Freeing our brilliant, generous, and talented artivist is going to take all of us coming together and demanding his justice.
Learn more about Vernon through articles, videos, and other media, sign and share the petition supporting his exoneration, get one of our limited-edition “Free Vernon” tees while they last, and see more of his art and his many philanthropic endeavors at FreeVernon.Org.
Meet us outside The District Theatre during Fringe Festival, celebrate art, and commit to the struggle to exonerate and free all unjustly incarcerated people!
