"Thank God, I'm Home" Julie Green Exhibition - Nicolette Capua

 

Nicolette Capua, A Love for Pasta, 2022

     If I had experienced what many of these wrongly accused prisoners experienced and finally was let out of jail, the celebratory meal I would want is homemade spaghetti. This is because of my Italian heritage. I grew up loving to eat pasta since my family aways makes it on Sundays. It is definitely my comfort food because it reminds me of home. It holds sentimental value to me because my dad always says "he makes it with love". 

                                                                   

                                                                         Julie Green's Exhibit

     Julie Green is an artist best known for making paintings about fashion, food, and capital punishment. Julie created an exhibition called “Thank God, Im Home” which is based off of the series First Meals. In this series Julie Green got to hear the backgrounds and understand the stories of prisoners who were wrongfully accused of murder. The purpose of this exhibit was to show the first meals these people asked for when they were released from their 10 plus year sentence in jail. A lot of these people asked for fast food meals because they were not able to get that in prison. The primary reason for this is that when they entered jail they were very young and fast food was safe and familiar to them. Julie Green also made her audience feel connected to these paintings with fast food drawings because we all grew up enjoying fast food even though it is unhealthy. In addition to this Green's work extends past these people's individual meals and speaks up for the wide majority of wrongfully imprisoned people.
    The first painting that caught my eye was the Whopper, Fries, and Then, 2020 painting by Julie Green. This Burger King painting is presented on a Tyvek landscape. Various shades of gold and bronze are used to symbolize a higher power in this painting. The landscape is cut out to appear like a plate that a fast food meal can be placed on. In an effort to make the painting appear to be more realistic and to stand out Green uses acrylic, palladium leaf, silk, cotton, paper, and glow-in- the- dark coloring. On the bottom of the plate we see the words “17 on death row, 1st meal on the outside then threw up”. This can have many different meanings, but I feel since an unhealthy meal was the first thing he ate right out of prison, this could have contributed to him feeling ill and vomiting. Furthermore, this demonstrates how the Burger King franchise and all other fast food places are not good for your health and can lead to various complications or ailments. This meal may have been this person's favorite food, thus why he wanted to have it after his tenure in prison.
    This painting portrays several messages about identity, social injustice, law enforcement, incarnation, and power. These people were taken into prison at a very young age and were stripped of their childhood. This person choosing to have Burger King as his celebratory meal out of prison shows how he still associates the outside world with his childhood. Burger king was a childhood meal to him so it was easily the first meal he would think of when stepping out of prison. The failure of law enforcement to correctly identify the innocence of this child shows the corruptness of the modern day justice system. They hold too much power over the citizens to be able to afford making false accusations. These personal narratives highlight larger questions and raise awareness about justice and history. They show us how detrimental it was to these people to be taken away for something they never did. I believe this work is activist because it is prompting change in the justice system and speaking up for these people who were silenced and put away by law enforcement.
    Another painting that caught my eye was called At Home With Family, 2021. What drew me in right away was the color purple used in the painting. This painting has acrylic, fabric, thread, 24K gold, and glow in the dark paint on a Tyvek landscape. In the painting through a house’s window we see a family eating at the dinner table. The story behind this painting is about a black male who was wrongfully imprisoned and when he got out, his celebratory meal he wanted was a home cooked meal with his family. I personally can connect to this because I understand how comforting it is to be able to sit down with everyone in your family to eat and converse with each other. This is a time to reconnect with your loved ones. This person probably missed their family very much and wanted to have a healthy meal at the comfort of his home. In the painting Green chose a fukinuki yatai “blown away roof” Japanese bird's eye perspective to show the family sharing a meal. I thought this was a very interesting approach to the story as it truly draws the audience in and gives us a different view on the house.
    The message this painting gives off about identity, social justice, law enforcement, incarnation, and power is how flawed the justice system is. This person chose to have a home cooked meal instead of eating out, thus showing his familiarity with the warm nature of his family. The social justice system has caused this person to lose time with his family that he now has to make up. These personal narratives highlight larger questions and raise awareness about justice and history by making the audience feel empathetic towards the man. Illustrating his family sitting at the table eating together makes the audience reconcile with the man as he attempts to enjoy the family time he rightfully deserved but was not subjected to due to the chaotic state of the law enforcement system. I believe this work is activist because it is encouraging others to take note of what law enforcement is taking away from us civilians. This painting is a great way to show people what has been happening in the world and that we should take a stand to stop social injustice in society.

Julie Green, Whopper, Fries, and Then, 2020

Julie Green, At Home With Family, 2021

Quotes:

The Art of Self Invention 
By Joanne Finkelstein

“Manners are about strategies of social exclusion; they define the individual's thresholds of tolerance, of what is acceptable or not.” (Finkelstein 78).

    Sometimes it could feel like society is testing you, and it is hard to be your true self. Society's standards can affect people in many ways, and it can all affect our mental health tremendously. Manners show us someone's personality right away. It can tell us who they really are as a person.


Ways of Seeing

By John Berger 

"The history of the tradition, as it is usually taught, teaches us that art prospers if enough individuals in society have a love for art. What is a love of art?" (Berger 84)

    Without art the world would be boring. Art allows us to express ourselves and tell stories we may not be comfortable saying out loud. Julie Greens work illustrates the stories of prisoners who were wrongfully accused of murder and tells us their first meals they picked when they got out of prison. Her work is an example of how art is a great way to inform others about issues as well as express our own feelings.


"And the painter in him - who is both and less than the old man - has found the means to express just that, using a medium which had been traditionally developed to exclude any such question." (Berger 112).

    Expressing yourself through paint should come naturally. Painting is a way to relax and tell your truth through your art. It gives us the freedom to feel however we want to feel. Once you know who you are as a person then you will be able to become more passionate about art.