"Visions of Justice" - Exploring Justice in Words and Pictures in Gallery I

Please join us for an Artist Reception on Friday, August 6th from 7-8:30 PM.

How do we view justice? How do our experiences shape our perception? A juried exhibition at the Northwest Arts Center explores personal visions of justice by North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation resident artists and writers. Participants in the exhibition interpreted and expressed their vision of justice as related to prompts of judgment, fairness, balance, history and identity.

Originally intended to coincide with Minot State University’s NOTSTOCK 2020 Arts Festival, canceled due to coronavirus, the exhibition was organized by Professor Bill Harbort, MSU Art, Dr. Gary Rabe and Dr. Maria Kerzmann, MSU Criminal Justice, and Mandy Herberholz, ND DOCR Workforce Resource Coordinator.

Held over the past summer, the call for entries drew 30 artworks and 10 written works from across the ND DOCR system. Broaching themes including criminal justice reform, religion, social justice, rehabilitation and regret, the works offer voices and perspective often left unheard in discussions of success and failure in the justice system.

Art can be a powerful tool for communication and understanding across communities and social divides, which is evident in the works submitted for the show.

“The Visions of Justice exhibition celebrates the creative work of our incarcerated population,” says Harbort. “It allows the viewer to explore justice, gain new insight and exercise empathy.” Visions of Justice is organized and sponsored by Minot State University, The Rural Crime and Justice Center, NOTSTOCK and the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations. This program is funded in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.