“On the Count” by Gina Lee Robbins and “Prison Reimagined: Presidential Portraits,” two exhibits about the U.S.’s mass incarceration system on display at the Indy Art Center. On September 20, the Center held an action panel featuring Prison Reimagined curator Caddell Kivett, featured artist Gina Lee Robbins, Death Penalty Action Executive Director Abe Bonowitz, Derek Ford of the Shaka Shakur Freedom Campaign, and local art-ivist Vernon T. Bateman. Watch a short clip as Vernon speaks about the conditions and motivations behind his artworks and children’s books.
Watch Vernon’s remarks
Vernon explains the real Tarzan through his painting
Through his painting, “The Belly of the Beast,” Vernon T. Bateman gives a short lesson in the history of the real Tarzan: Ota Benga. Ota Benga refused to accept colonial subjugation, racist terror, and enslavement, resisting by uniting with other inhabitants of the “Monkey House” at the Bronx Zoo. We must honor and study the legacies of these revolutionary freedom fighters so we can carry them on today. The parallels between Ota Benga and Vernon T. Bateman’s struggles are separated by over a century, but the parallels are disturbing. Ota Benga was liberated through collective organizing then, and we need your help to liberate Bateman now. Visit FreeVernon.org, sign and share the petition, and join the fight for freedom today!
Featured image: Vernon T. Bateman and Gina Lee Robbins pose with “The belly of the beast” by Bateman. Credit: Gina Lee Robbins.