Get Out of Jail Free - Exhibition & Reception

Get Out of Jail Free is a Visual Aid exhibition exploring powerful themes of imprisonment as a metaphor for illness and other issues of struggle, injustice and inequities in power relationships in political, social, environmental and personal arenas.

"The exhibition's theme was inspired by seeing the 'Get Out of Jail Free' card crop up repeatedly in diverse works of art in recent months," said Julie Blankenship, Executive Director of Visual Aid. "In the Monopoly game we played as kids, a lucky roll of the dice assigned this card to one player. The card functioned as a pass, used to instantly extricate the player from dire circumstances. In this exhibition, the title references how--in our darkest hour--we may begin to rely on magical thinking to try and shield ourselves from trouble. We might wish for a charm or envision a threshold we can step through to a parallel universe without illness or homophobia, racist wars or environmental degradation."

Curated by Maysoun Wazwaz and the Visual Aid exhibition team, the organization holds 16 exhibitions annually, showcasing work by 70+ member artists who suffer from disabling, life-threatening illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and Breast Cancer.

"Get Out of Jail Free offers a unique opportunity for artists from the larger community to participate in a Visual Aid exhibition," said Julie Blankenship. "We invite artists to submit work that responds to universal themes of oppression and injustice." Visual Aid has received numerous local and international submissions, and is accepting art through March 30th. Email staff [at] visualaid.org for details. This exhibition will feature 100+ small digital prints, photographs, collages, paintings, drawings, prints, mixed media works and sculpture.

The April 12th artists' reception will offer members of the public an opportunity to view the exhibition and interact with many of the artists represented in the show.