Vikki Law Reading from Resistance Behind Bars at Babylon Falling

Babylon Falling in association with PM Press presents a reading with Vikki Law, author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women. In addition to the reading she will also lead a talk and informal discussion with members of Building Bloc. Examining Building Bloc’s Artist Mutual Aid PenPal Project as a model, the talk will focus on the concept of prisoner-made media as a form of resistance.

Join us here at Babylon Falling for the reading and talk on Thursday, March 12th 2009 at 6pm. The event is wheelchair accessible.

About Vikki Law
Victoria Law is a writer, photographer and mother. After a brief stint as a teenage armed robber, she became involved in prisoner support. In 1995, she became involved with ABC No Rio, a collectively-run arts center on New York’s Lower East Side, serving as Board Treasurer from 1997 to 2002. In 1996, she helped start Books Through Bars-New York City, a group that sends free books to prisoners nationwide. Since 2002, she has worked with women incarcerated nationwide to produce the zine Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison and has facilitated having incarcerated women’s writings published in Clamor magazine, the website “Women and Prison: A Site for Resistance” and the upcoming anthology Interrupted Lives. In 2003, she began presenting “Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind,” a workshop addressing the specific (and often unacknowledged) needs of parents and children in radical movements. Sometimes with China Martens and sometimes with Jennifer Silverman, she has facilitated discussions in Baltimore, New York City, Providence, Montreal, Minneapolis and Boston.

About Resistance Behind Bars
In 1974, women imprisoned at New York's maximum-security prison at Bedford Hills staged what is known as the August Rebellion. Protesting the brutal beating of a fellow prisoner, the women fought off guards, held seven hostage, and took over sections of the prison. While many have heard of the 1971 Attica prison uprising, the August Rebellion remains relatively unknown. Resistance Behind Bars is determined to challenge and change such oversight. As it examines the daily struggles against appalling prison conditions and injustices, Resistance documents both collective organizing and individual resistance among women incarcerated in the US. Emphasizing women's agency, Resistance seeks to spark further discussion and research into the lives of incarcerated women and galvanize much-needed outside support for their struggles.

http://resistancebehindbars.org/
http://www.pmpress.org/

About Building Bloc and their Artist Mutual Aid PenPal Project
BuildingBloc is a collective of artists dedicated to using art to explore the social inequalities in our society. Through experimentation, collaboration, and performance, we inform, provoke, and inspire ourselves and our audiences. We aim to spark dialogue, to create and sustain relationships between artists and community organizations, to support existing struggles for social justice, and to erase the boundaries between art and activism. BuildingBloc is rooted in the idea that as artists, we express the dreams, struggles, and questions of our people. The Artist Pen-Pal Mutual Aid Project is an ongoing collaboration with about 160 people currently on the inside in the California prison system that is intended to provide an active channel of communication between artists and artistically minded people behind bars and those on the outside, in the community.

http://www.buildingbloc.net/

About Babylon Falling
Babylon Falling is a concept-driven independent bookstore with a focus on the spirit of Revolution. In addition to new books, we also carry similarly themed collectible toys, posters, artwork and DVDs, and our own in house clothing line featuring designs submitted by those artists who have exhibited here. The name of the store reflects the owner's Jamaican heritage, where the word Babylon is an all-purpose euphemism for both oppression and those who oppress. The phrase Babylon Falling then, is at once an affirmation and a demand.
Previous shows at Babylon Falling have included Hal Lawrence, Robert Bowen, David Choong Lee, John Felix Arnold III, Emory Douglas, Le Bijoutier, Roger Steffens & Peter Simon, David Ball, buZ blurr, C3, Shawn Mortensen, and most recently local artist David Young.
For pictures of past events at Babylon Falling please see: http://www.babylonfalling.com/Events.html