About the project framework:

Through the lens of Ronnie’s childhood, the campaign takes us deeper into who he is as a person, more about his case, and the impact his incarceration has had on his family.

This work invites attendees to imagine what he could have done with 22 years of his life, creates space for us to collectively tap into spiritual and ancestral guidance, and invites us to question the system at large. 

Here is an invitation to remain open in our collective questioning; in our collective dreaming.

MORE ON UNCLE RONNIES ROOM:

The installation is a recreation of Ronnie’s childhood bedroom set alongside a space of prayer for our collective freedom. The bedroom and altar sit inside of an old jail cell at the Youth Justice Center, a former juvenile detention center in Los Angeles, California. By sifting through his memories of home brought to life, we invite people to sit with who he is, what he loved, and reflect on what he could have done with the 23 years that were stolen from him.

The performance takes place at the site of installation on May 22, 2022. The performance is an invitation for us to collectively be in ceremony and tap into other spaces of power. Ronnie’s niece (Mims) will conduct a movement piece to his grandparents favorite songs, accompanied by a church choir. It is an offering for us to heal and fall apart together. Mims’ great-grandparents were organizers in the South during the civil rights movement. These beloved songs are birthed out of southern Black Church. The performance highlights the relationship between black churches and organizing in the South. It is a moment to honor and create space for experiencing the fugitivity of praise, worship, and shouting in black church traditions.

The documentary series follows the entire process of the campaign; from art making, sharing his story, sharing the details of his case, mobilizing the public through media, meeting with lawyers, and reflecting with family members on how his incarceration has impacted them. This is an offering for people to follow along with the project and get insight into the Coleman family’s process.

The billboard campaign centers images of Ronnie as a child, inviting us to imagine what he could have done with the past 23 years of his life that have been stolen from him. As an extension of the rest of the project— the billboard campaign invites disruption, prayer, and a call for ancestral guidance. It includes an image of Ronnie’s Grandfather, George Sawyer, holding him as a baby. George Sawyer was an organizer during the civil rights movement era in Savannah, GA. In the spirit of this guidance, the campaign features a program that both his grandpa and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on. The ending text on the billboard is a play off of George Sawyer’s last documented interview; speaking about his work with Brown vs. Board of Education, and he told the press “You cannot be complacent.” The billboard reads “We must not be complacent, let us pray.”

Let us pray for ancestral guidance. Let us pray for focus. Let us pray that we don’t become numb to the abuse of these systems. Let us pray for cultivating more fugitive spaces and systems.

Let us pray for restful lives and futures for our people. Let us pray that Ronnie and Carl come home.