This First Friday, join us for a special curator-led walk-through of "Seeing through Stone" with IAS Director and Chief Curator, Dr. Rachel Nelson. Dr. Nelson will reflect on this major Visualizing Abolition exhibition, which is the first of such scale to be displayed at a UCSC gallery.

Schedule:
5–7 p.m. First Friday Gallery Opening Hours
5:30 p.m. Exhibition Tour

"Seeing through Stone" brings together artwork by contemporary artists from around the globe whose work engages prisons, justice, and freedom. Drawing its title from poet Etheridge Knight’s evocation of those who have “the secret eyes,” "Seeing through Stone" highlights the works of artists, including those who are formerly and currently incarcerated, that offer a vision beyond carceral systems, drawing out the flourishing collective story and alternative imagining currently underway in creating a future free of prisons.

The multi-sited exhibition is not focused on prisons but rather is oriented towards artists who help provide a vision—and a model—of abolition in practice. In sixteen newly commissioned projects, alongside other works of video, painting, sculpture, installation, sound, and performance, across three exhibition sites, "Seeing through Stone" provides a model of hope.

"Seeing through Stone" is co-organized by the Institute of the Arts and Sciences and San José Museum of Art.

The Institute of the Arts and Sciences is pleased to participate in Santa Cruz’s First Friday Art Tour.

Image by Mickey Ta.

Event Webpage: https://ias.ucsc.edu/event/first-friday-curator-led-tour-of-seeing-through-stone-with-dr-rachel-nelson/