IF ALL LIVES MATTER ‘CAUSE WE’RE ALL CREATED EQUAL, WHY ARE SOME LIVES MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS?

Photo courtesy of CultureStrike

In September 2015, artists of AgitArte and Papel Machete collaborated with El Puente CADRE artist and self-taught quilter Sylvia Hernandez to develop and present a cantastoria street theatre performance and quilt that traces the history and development of the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) from slavery to mass incarceration and the killing of black men and women by police in the United States. The piece was first performed at El Puente’s annual ¡WEPA! Festival for Southside Performing Arts, and a second time with youth artists of El Puente’s For The Movement Theatre Collective (FTM), both in the Southside of Williamsburg (Los Sures), Brooklyn. The project is envisioned as a touring piece that can be shared and expanded on with different communities, and was presented in over 20 cities in the US and Puerto Rico during the When We Fight, We Win! book tour. In addition to performing, Dey illustrated and designed the quilt.