Abolitionist Benches, 2024, in collaboration with KT Kennedy and Recess Assembly

This project will consist of a series of conversations and a series of benches. Abolitionist Benches will be a series of benches that serve both as a nexus for conversation about the current state of incarceration in New York City and as a place of respite.

As New Yorkers watch the demolition of jails across four of the city’s five boroughs as part of the city’s plan to “close Rikers,” now is the time to think about what we can build and how we can care for one another in the absence of carceral structures and systems. As prison abolitionist and scholar Ruth Wilson Gilmore says, “abolition is presence.” This project and my understanding of abolition are rooted in a place of abundance, in the belief that we already have what we need to care for our society.

The goals of this project are to engage with community members in the areas directly surrounding the sites of the Manhattan Detention Complex located at 125 White Street and the Brooklyn House of Detention located at 275 Atlantic Avenue.

Accessibility and shared space that invites the public in are central to this project study. Every place to sit in the city that is not hostile architecture resists ableist forces. These benches will do so intentionally.

This project has received support from Culture Push and New York State Council on the Arts.