Wadsworth Jarrell, Revolutionary, May 20, 1972. Color screenprint on paper, 33 x 26 inches. Courtesy Lisbet Tellefsen Archive. © Wadsworth Jarrell.
A trailblazer in the social justice movement, philosophy professor and activist Angela Davis drew public attention to the racial biases of the prison system in the early 1970s. The exhibition and accompanying catalogue Angela Davis: Seize the Time, organized by the Zimmerli Art Museum and traveling to the Oakland Museum of California in October, chronicles Davis’s groundbreaking career through an extraordinary archive assembled by collector Lisbet Tellefsen. Thoughtfully co-curated by Gerry Beegan and Donna Gustafson, a selection of posters, print media, courtroom sketches, artwork, and photographs document the construction of Davis’s public image by mainstream and alternative media. Interspersed with the archival material are works by contemporary artists who continue to build upon Davis’s philosophies of freedom.
