Art for social justice.
Julie Green captures 鈥済lorious, crushing moments.鈥
![canvas with one closed handcuff and one open handcuff and paintbrush](/sites/default/files/2021-05/stories-art-social-justice.png)
The on the easel in Julie Green鈥檚 Corvallis studio depicts a Chicago brownstone; a geyser, drawn from the image on a Transferware plate Green bought at a local antique mall; a faint amaryllis flower, a symbol of success after a long struggle; a corned beef sandwich and dill pickles; and, poignantly, the text, 鈥淭hank God I鈥檓 Home.鈥
Green鈥檚 painting is the eighth in a series called 鈥淔irst Meal.鈥 The works pay tribute to the first meals exonerated inmates choose after being released, in some cases after decades of wrongful incarceration. was freed in July 2018 after nearly a decade in prison.
![Julie Green, artist, standing in front of her easel](/sites/default/files/styles/640x480/public/2021-05/stories-julie-green-800x548.jpg?itok=oVUhe6Ok)
鈥淔irst Meal鈥 is in some ways a companion to Green鈥檚 well-known 鈥淭he Last Supper鈥 project, which depicts the last meals death row inmates eat before their execution.
At first, Green, a professor of fine arts in the , thought the 鈥淔irst Meal鈥 would be a lighter, more joyous project. The pastoral, utopic scenes, like the geyser in Brown鈥檚 painting, are a testament to that, but contrast starkly with the text, images of food and the sheer number of years people have spent wrongfully imprisoned.
鈥淭hese are glorious, crushing moments,鈥 Green says. 鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 known how young some of them were when they were convicted. The stories are heartbreaking. Even though they鈥檙e released, how do they go on with life? How are they not scarred?鈥
For Green, both 鈥淭he Last Supper鈥 and 鈥淔irst Meal鈥 are about humanizing people who have been institutionalized. But the 鈥淔irst Meal鈥 paintings are large, three feet by 4 feet. 鈥淚 wanted them to be like a banner. They are like pennants of loss,鈥 Green says.
Green is working in collaboration with the at Northwestern University. Most of 鈥淔irst Meal鈥檚鈥 subjects have been exonerated because the center has worked on their behalf. Since its founding in 1999, the center has helped to exonerate nearly 50 people.
鈥淎nything that draws attention to wrongful conviction and the consequences these people go through is really paramount to ending this pattern of wrongful convictions in this country and all over the world,鈥 says Deputy Director Sara Sommervold. 鈥淚 think visual art has a dynamic and important role to play in public awareness when it comes to social justice issues.鈥
Green aims to make and exhibit 20 鈥淔irst Meal鈥 paintings, with some proceeds going to the Center on Wrongful Convictions.
Note: Julie Green died in Corvallis Oct. 12, 2021.
鈥淢any people feel at a loss for how we can help if they see artwork that is challenging. But here there is a chance to support the center and the people working there in a positive way. They are saving lives.鈥
鈥 Julie Green, Professor of Fine Arts
See more of Julie Green鈥檚 artwork and studio process
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