In August, City Gallery presents SERVED: Wrongful Convictions & The Death Penalty by guest artist Toby Lee Greenberg, on view from August 1 – August 24.The Opening Reception will be held on Sunday, August 3rd, 2 p.m. – 4 p.m., featuring an Artist’s Talk and Guest Speakers at 3 p.m. Guest speakers include Stefon Morant and Hannah L. Fitzsimon from the Innocence Project.
The Innocence Project works to free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions, and create fair, compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, the organization is now an independent nonprofit. Its work is “guided by science and grounded in anti-racism.”
Toby Lee Greenberg is a conceptual, mixed media artist whose work is immersed in the criminal justice system, with a focus on the history and continued use of capital punishment in the United States. Her current work, Biography: Unwritten, is an ongoing, interactive series which considers the issue of wrongful convictions and the most egregious of erroneous judgments – the death penalty. Greenberg’s goal is to create a unique artist’s book, honoring each exonerated person included on the Death Penalty Information Center’s Innocence Database (200 to date). While researching Biography: Unwritten, Greenberg combs through numerous resources, gathering information on the men and women who have been wrongfully sentenced to death and later exonerated. The titles of her books imply they are biographies, with subtitles suggesting details about the person’s life, often prior to becoming entangled in the criminal justice system. But the pages are not only empty, they are also glued and cemented shut, suggesting the harshness of a prison cell and time lost on death row. The final page of each book, the epilogue, contains a simple paraphrased sentence, completing the prompt “Missed…”, as in “Missed building a credit history” or “Missed having a family. These personal “Missed” statements reveal a milestone or simple moment, which was lost while incarcerated, usually with lifelong consequences. Factual information regarding the subject’s time on death row completes each epilogue.
Viewers are encouraged to pick up a book, bearing witness to its contents or lack thereof. These are the empty biographies of innocent men and women, convicted and sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit and who, upon release from prison, struggle to find a place for themselves in a world quite different from the one they left behind. While holding a book, viewers may consider their own lives and the preciousness of these missed moments which become even more profound in their absence. Some viewers find themselves identifying, at least momentarily, with the subject of the biography, imagining the experience of an innocence denied and the helplessness of the wrongfully convicted. Displayed on floating shelves, each book sits upon a stack of untitled books, paying homage to the unknown number of people who were wrongly convicted but who perished on death row.
For every 8 people executed, 1 person on death row has been exonerated. 1,630 people have been executed in the U.S. since 1973.
Equal Justice Initiative (eji)
“My current work on wrongful convictions and the brutality of the death penalty, pushes people out of their comfort zones, bringing viewers’ attention to an unpleasant topic — the sanctity and fragility of life and one’s own mortality,” says Greenberg.
Greenberg’s interest in the history and controversary regarding the use of the death penalty began in 1995, after hearing a report of a person’s requested last meal on the evening news. Working with ordinary objects, such as dinner plates and restaurant menus, she began researching the ritual and custom of offering a last meal of choice to someone about to be executed. The limited-edition artist’s book The Menu, is a compilation of 34 pages, bound within a luxury, gold foil-stamped cover. A constant throughout the years, has been the incorporation of text into her art, empowering appropriated words with another layer of meaning and messaging. Her work calls into question the dissemination of public information, such as state prison records and trial transcripts, and our voyeuristic nature. On display, The Menu encourages viewers to turn the pages, to read the options of what seems to be an elegant restaurant menu. Last Meal, a companion piece, consists of fine china dinner plates, displaying elegant words printed in the area which would ordinarily contain food. At the top of each plate appears the name of a person condemned to death, followed by their last supper, the meal they requested and were served just prior to their execution. The foods listed on the plates, which at first seem innocent enough, compel one to consider the finality of the meal and the destiny of these individuals. Why has this person who has been stripped of all freedom, now in his/her final hour, been afforded a choice?
The presentation of these ritualistic meals distances us from the institutionalized proceedings of which they are a part. These meals articulate a darkness about human beings and the positions each of us play as criminal, executioner, or simply the members of a society that puts people to death, but paradoxically allows them one last act of individual expression. The collection of meals presented in the Last Meal and The Menu subconsciously prompts us to consider what our own final request would be. This simple act momentarily compels us to identify with the helplessness of the condemned, as it simultaneously links them, guilty or not, with the rest of humanity. 1
Greenberg’s work on the death penalty can make people uncomfortable, leading them to consider their own feelings about this act and to consider something they would simply prefer not to think about.
“My goal is to share my art with a wide audience both within traditional art venues, as well as through alternative spaces and organizations. It is my hope that my art promotes conversation and brings awareness to wrongful convictions, the death penalty, mass incarceration, and the criminal justice system overall,” explains Greenberg.
The SERVED: Wrongful Convictions & The Death Penalty exhibit and Opening Reception are free and open to the public. City Gallery is located at 994 State Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Gallery hours are Friday - Sunday, 12 p.m. - 4 p.m., or by appointment. For further information please contact City Gallery, info@city-gallery.org, www.city-gallery.org.
Biography: Unwritten, Installation views from exhibition Books Undone, Penn College of Technology, 2024, © Toby Lee Greenberg 2024
The Menu, Cover, Installation View, © Toby Lee Greenberg, 1995
The Menu, Franco American Spaghettios with meatballs, Detail of Interior View, © Toby Lee Greenberg, 1995
Last Meal, Fried Rabbit, 10” Dinner Plate, © Toby Lee Greenberg, 1995
