An interactive pop-up exhibit on mass incarceration

The Scope of Work
I conceptualized, designed, and produced this pop-up exhibit for Vera Institute of Justice's flagship prison reform initiative, Restoring Promise. The initiative was aiming to expand across the country to work in prisons that needed to be reformed using a restorative justice model that emphasizes human dignity, informed by best practices used in European correctional systems, and it was looking to attract funding for this ambitious campaign. Annually, the initiative brings together system leaders, commissioners, wardens, officers, community advocates, family, and formerly incarcerated people at a national convening to bring all these actors together in one room to discuss changing prison conditions in the U.S.

A major part of that work is ensuring that participants, but particularly system leaders understand and acknowledge the racist roots of the U.S. prison system and why prison reform is so critical. Because buy-in from system stakeholders was critical, and I understood that they may be tuned out, feel unease or antagonism particularly toward reformers who they believe are lecturing them and shaming them, I knew that they would inevitably leave the panels or workshops and walk out to take breather, go to the hallway, the restroom, outside.

It was important that the entire building space be engaged as part of the learning journey, as one continuous experience, not simply the rooms where the panels and workshops were being held. As a result, I suggested using experiential design to target participants in a more visual and passive way, such as through an exhibit that they can explore on their own, whenever they want, with no Vera staff in sight, that visually walked them through the argument for prison reform at their own pace through the use of multimedia. The exhibit featured photography I took in American, German, and Norwegian prisons so that system leaders could visually compare these systems on their own, and leave with an appreciation for why prison reform is so important.