Patrick Conway

Book Review: “Chasing Me to My Grave” — An Indispensable Black Voice

September 6, 2021
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This was an artist who approached his singular craft with equal measures of exuberance and precision.

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Book Review: “Mississippi Prison Writing” Offers an Unfiltered Look at Life Behind Bars

July 14, 2021
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Many of the pieces in the collection come in the form of a personal diary, and these give us a sense of the day-to-day inner lives of the prisoners.

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Jazz Album Review: A Splendidly Spiritual Conversation — “Promises” with Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders

May 7, 2021
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Dedicated to experimentation and creative collaboration, Promises delivers an otherworldly, dreamlike experience.

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Book Review: “World of Wonders” — A Natural Counter to the Chaos of Our Political Moment

January 15, 2021
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These essays aren’t overly scientific; instead, they remind us, with a gentle nudge, to take delight in nature, to pay attention to it, to be observant.

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Arts Remembrance: Fred “Toots” Hibbert — Resiliency in the Face of Struggle

September 14, 2020
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As anyone who is familiar with “Toots” Hibbert’s near sixty-year career could testify, he was an artist who wrote songs that were guaranteed to transcend the contexts of their particular place and moment.

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Arts Commentary: Consider the Self — I am George Floyd. I am Derek Chauvin.

June 3, 2020
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I am Derek Chauvin, and I am George Floyd. Who are you?

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Book Review: “Marking Time” — Documenting the Visual Arts in American Prisons

May 22, 2020
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Marking Time explores how the creation of art in prison can disrupt institutionalized patterns of dehumanization. The book’s larger narrative comes with an overt political aim: “to envision and help create a world without human caging.”

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Visual Arts Feature: Artists Respond to the COVID-19 Crisis in Prisons

May 3, 2020
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Much of what artists and educators who enter prisons typically aim to do is help foster human connections with those on the inside.

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