significance of a digital gallery

We designed our website as a digital gallery to make this work accessible beyond physical spaces and reach audiences who might not otherwise engage with mass incarceration issues. The online format allows us to include context about Free Minds' work, link to criminal justice reform resources, and create space for reflection. We structured the site to guide visitors through each poster sequentially with accompanying text explaining Free Minds' mission and the broader context of racial capitalism and mass incarceration in DC.

Our digital gallery contributes to conversations about abolition by centering voices most affected by carceral systems. Free Minds envisions "a DC where Black and Latinx communities have abundant access to resources for healing, growth, creative expression, love, and connection" where "mass incarceration no longer exists." This recognizes that prisons don't make communities safer but extract resources from marginalized neighborhoods while failing to address root causes like poverty and trauma. Free Minds demonstrates what becomes possible when we invest in people rather than punishment. Through TT's insistence on being seen fully and AHA's discovery of beauty in constrained circumstances, our posters visualize transformation and resistance. Through our partnership with Free Minds and this digital exhibit, we make visible everyday experiences of racism in DC's criminal justice system while amplifying the creativity, resilience, and humanity of those fighting for liberation.

Along with our posters, we wanted to provide some background context behind our mission, and further explain the significance of the Free Mind Collective.

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