Art X Social Justice
Artists participating in workshop at New York State Correctional Facility at Auburn, organized by James Harithas and Everson Museum of Art, c1973. Photograph by Kerby Smith.
"Art X Social Justice" is a graduate-run initiative within the Department of Art History and Archaeology.
AXSJ provides a platform and resource for faculty, students and staff to explore the ways in which art history might contribute to local and global social justice struggles, whether through teaching, research, or other projects.
In its inaugural year, the program will focus on the issue of mass incarceration and the carceral state through a teaching project called "Art from Within." In the fall and spring, graduate volunteers will work alongside museum educators from El Museo del Barrio and the Studio Museum in Harlem to provide a series of art workshops to people incarcerated at Riker's Island.
AXSJ is directed by Ph.D. candidates Zoë Dostal and Nick Croggon, under the guidance of Faculty advisors Professors Meredith Gamer, Elizabeth Hutchinson and Kellie Jones, and Mia Ruyter, the Education and Outreach Manager at the Heyman Center for the Humanities. It will also work closely with other social justice initiatives within the University, such as the Center for Justice, the Justice-in-Education Initiative and the Heyman Center.