Gachet Staff Statement

Gallery Gachet is honoured to showcase the works of incarcerated artists in our exhibition Locked Up: The Soul Speaks Out. The Gallery Gachet staff would like to indicate our continuous support towards the efforts made by activists calling for an end to policing minority and disenfranchised bodies and the state-sanctioned acts of violence used as a tool by police to oppress Indigenous and Black Peoples.

Gallery Gachet’s mandate is to utilize artistic means to demystify and challenge social issues of mental health and the disenfranchisement of Minority Bodies. Bringing focus to how the prison industrial complex, policing minority bodies, and mental health policies in prisons further exacerbates the mental health crisis and the trauma that Black, Brown and Indigenous community members suffer due to institutions founded on outdated colonial ideals.

To bring this exhibition to life, we had to interface with institutionalized policies and parameters. To that effect, Gallery Gachet staff is in solidarity with the abolition movement and seeks to highlight the impact that the prison industrial complex and police state has on members of the Black, Brown and Indigenous communities.

The Gachet staff strives to uplift the voices of marginalized peoples as best as we can. The Gachet staff has compiled a list of resources in consultation with DEFUND 604 that speaks to decolonization, prison abolition, allyship and activism that can be found in Gallery Gachet and our website, resources linked here. 

We encourage you to attend Prisoner Justice Day to learn more about abolition:

Wednesday, August 10, 6 – 8pm at Trout Lake Park.

Sincerely,

Moroti George (Programming Coordinator)

Vivienne Bessette (Membership & Facilities Coordinator)

Arlo Havixbeck (Communications Coordinator)

Demi London (Executive Director)