Can't Eat Money
The collage artist Julie Green brought to attention in her exhibition Thank God, I’m Home: First Meal, the issue with wrongful convictions and the death penalty. In this exhibition, she made many works illustrating plates and the foods that correlate to exonerated prisoners who were on their way to the death penalty and wrongfully so. On the illustrated plates the audience can see the first meals the exonerated prisoners received. The artist gives us a human element to consider which may have not been there before for many of the prisoners. The death penalty is still a cruel punishment ordered out by many states to the prisoners. Julie Green did create work related to the last meal prisoners on death row received and was inspired to follow the theme in this exhibition.
In Green’s last meal and first meal exhibitions, the audience can tell that she cares and placed a great amount of thought into her work. Many have different opinions about the death penalty, for it or against it. However, Green’s work brings up wrongful execution and how it applied to those who are unable to defend themselves in a corrupt system. The exhibition may be tough to take in and some may try to deny the fact that this is as cruel as it is portrayed. This prompts us to another collage artist named Wagenchi Mutu, Mutu creates collaged pieces relating to herself, her background, gender, race, nature, and so on. She also deals with subjects that are confrontational for some and enlightening for others. There is an article discussing Mutu’s work that also relates to Green, it's called Wagenchi Mutu: A New Face for the Met By Nancy Princenthal. There is a quote in this article that relate to Green and her position as an artist in this divided society, “The work of these women is immense. The regard for them is not.” Many choose to not pay attention to real-world problems because they feel too comfortable in their societal position to bother and it is quite disturbing how easily they turn their heads away.
The first piece that will be discussed is Holding Orange by Julie Green. In this artwork Green takes Jason Stong, an exonerated prisoners story of what he ate when he was outside and free, After 15 years in prison, exoneree Jason Strong states a waitress brought him a gift of an orange and he held it for 40 minutes before eating it, It had been Strong’s first orange in eight years. The full interview is included in the painting’s upper right corner of the piece. Green placed the state bird and flower on the plate border. Green collaborated with the exoneree and the Center on Wrongful Convictions. The plate at the center shows this peaceful scenery in nature, she really captured the essence of the moment Strong held the orange in his hands. In the article “The Last Supper:” Julie Green’s Plates about Death Row by Bill Rodgers it talks mainly about her Last supper series but it still applies to the First meal series. There is a statement Green says, “My story, however, is never going to fully depict the horror that unfolds dozens of times each year in tiny concrete rooms across the country.” It is understandable that she would like to bring more context and give more information since it's a very meaningful topic to her. The audience with the small context will see the intention and care given to every work. Her work incentives the viewer to be involved and research the topic she presents. That the people incarcerated should be given the benefit of the doubt, and that legitimate evidence matters.
The second artwork by Julie Green is Huwe Burton Said Truth Freed Me, Music Kept Me Sane While I Waited. The title of this work comes directly from the wrongfully convicted individual's statement to Green. Huwe Burton describes his first meal of squash lasagna at Red Rooster in Harlem. Burton was sixteen years old when police forced a confession for the rape and murder of Burton's own mother. The officers involved are known to have used coercion to obtain false confessions in at least one other case. This painting is also of in collaboration with the exoneree, the Innocence Project, and the Center on Wrongful Convictions. The strong use of primary colors blue and red recalled a quote from The Feminist Challenge of Wangechi Mutu by Heidi Hirschl Orley. The author describes Mutu’s use of eyecatching colors and compositions to tackle ideas of identity, race, gender consumerism and it goes on. Mutu’s statement in the article was, “I’m interested in powerful images that strike chords embedded deep in the reservoirs of our unconscious.” It fits with Green’s artworks because she reminds us of how fundamental food is for us and the memories that accompany meals. Green’s overall work encourages us to think differently of prisoners, reminding us to be human and to care even a little about each other/ world.
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| Holding Orange for Jason Strong by Julie Green |
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| Huwe Burton Said Truth Freed Me, Music Kept Me Sane While I Waited by Julie Green |
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