by Michelle Repiso
The location: on the school bus
The scene: Lorton Correctional Facility
While riding the bus to high school I would make it a point to look to my right and imagine what it must feel like to be incarcerated. I would also visually explore the grounds thinking I would witness someone escaping since Lorton Prison had that reputation. Every day I would pass the prison and remind myself that as bad as it felt being on that bus at 7:00am, it could be worse. I was fascinated and unnerved for 10 seconds a day then I would go on with life. Subconsciously I now realize that this micro experience has led me to pursue and continue my art program at Rikers Island for the past three years. Today Lorton prison has closed and is now Workhouse Arts Center where they support artists and also houses a museum that covers the Workhouse from the reformatory to the arts center.
I am fortunate to be exhibiting Basic Necessities in a group show at Workhouse. Basic Necessities documents three individuals and the mechanisms they employ to sustain their humanity while incarcerated. This exhibition demonstrates man’s need for communication and connection within our environment no matter how harsh. Tiger Mountain provides music for a video piece that accompanies interviews from Coss Marte, Shane Ennover and Juan Howard.
Exhibition information:
Oculus: Of A Place Unseen
On view November 22, 2019 – February 2, 2020
Workhouse Arts Center – McGuireWoods Gallery, Building W-16
Website: http://www.workhousearts.org/
Workhouse Arts Center is pleased to present the interactive exhibit Oculus: Of A Place Unseen featuring works of artists Elaine Buss, Edgar Endress, Michelle Repiso and Steve Wanna. The use of the word ‘oculus,’ most known as an eye-like form in architecture, gestures towards the enlightening narratives discovered throughout the show. Each referencing feelings of solitude and contemplation, the storylines range from institutional boundaries to societal oversights and mantra meditations. Some works are as light as silk, some as heavy as stone, but the overall space is quiet — both literally and figuratively. Oculus: Of A Place Unseen encourages visitors to listen, connect and reconnect.
About the guest contributor:
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Northern Virginia, Michelle Repiso graduated from The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C., where she received a BFA in Photography (2000). Michelle is currently an adjunct faculty member with the International Center of Photography (ICP), Teen Academy, a certified M/WBE business based in New York City and works as a commercial, documentary and fine art photographer in both analog and digital formats.
In October 2016 Michelle started facilitating art classes at Rikers Island and in 2017 she developed Create & Connect, which is designed to keep families unified through a creative process of dialogue and hands-on art projects for incarcerated men, women and youth. Participants create original projects to send to their child, family, or friends as a way to unify and maintain communication through long distances. Emphasis is on the creative process and self-expression regardless of artistic skill level.