Strive Till I Rise is an organization founded by artist and peace advocate, Genesis Be. Strive is based in south Mississippi and Atlanta, GA.
Our goal is to harness creative power to highlight the human dignity of communities at the intersection of race, neurodiversity, gender and class.
We collaborate with deserving communities to amplify the voices of those impacted by mass incarceration, racial violence, addiction and neurodiversity. We create original content, art exhibits, plays, documentaries and music. This content is used as an educational tool to spread awareness and to empower our audience to get involved.
Our name honors the memory of Emmett Till, a 14 year old boy who was murdered in Mississippi due to racist ideology.
We believe that creative expression is a basic human right and is an essential tool for unifying our community, bridging the divide and building a more inheritable tomorrow for future generations.
Freedom Rising Exhibition
The Freedom Rising Art Exhibition features 20 original works by incarcerated artists currently being held at the Georgia Department of Corrections.
(April 4 - May 31 2024)
Brooklyn Art Haus, Marcy Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA
24 Marcy Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11211
About this event
Freedom Rising art exhibition is produced by Middle Church, and curated by art activist, Genesis Be, in collaboration with HeartBound Ministries. This exhibit culminates in a night of musical performances on April 27th at Brooklyn Art Haus as a part of the greater Freedom Rising Conference taking place April 26th - 28th.
We aim to challenge our audience's concept of freedom by highlighting the imagination, dreams, memories, life experiences, and talents of artists who do not have their freedom. There is a need to reevaluate our collective morality around the American prison system. Who do we deem worthy of freedom? Who do we believe is deserving of confinement and isolation? By humanizing the carceral issue through art, we can begin to analyze the way criminalization and dehumanization allow the general public to grant permission to reduce humans to "criminals" and remove them from our society and collective consciousness. This exhibit also features two artists from the "free world" to showcase in solidarity with their incarcerated counterparts. Here, they use their privilege of freedom to help bring attention to our confined artists, who are unable to promote their work to the general public. As you view the work, think about your individual role in the prison industrial complex. May it spark a curiosity that leads to research; may research lead to action.
Special thanks to you Focus For Health Foundation for your continued support.
Featured Artists:
Bobby A.
Antowon R.
Henry C.
Juan M.
Kevin D.
Seth B.
David W.
D Garcia
Robert S.
Artists in solidarity:
Mary Jo Lombardo
Yolanda Grace
“We Are Mississippi” Video Series
In 2022, we launched our new video series highlighting members of our community who are changing our State for the better. The series was created to give visibility to our unsung community leaders, to document movements in Mississippi that deserve to be archived for future generations to see. View more episodes HERE
