A journey of Compassion and creativity with Jackie Sumell

jackie sumell (spelled all lowercase) is a multidisciplinary artist and abolitionist inspired most by the lives of everyday people and informed through working directly with incarcerated people. Her work has been anchored at the intersection of activism, education, mindfulness practices and art for nearly two decades.

jackie became a Corrina Mehiel Fellow in 2020, just as the pandemic hit. After considering how the fellowship could best serve her process, it was not surprising that during such a precarious time an approach that afforded her rest, reflection and recuperation was landed upon. In late summer jackie took her newly built-out mobile Prisoners’ Apothecary on an inaugural road trip, first stopping at the historic abolitionist site of Harpers’ Ferry before setting up camp at artist Mel Chin’s studio in rural North Carolina and slowing down for a few days, spending time with some of the founders of S.O.U.R.C.E. Studio. A month later, she was hosted in a residency at the Hambidge Center in rural Georgia through a partnership with S.O.U.R.C.E. Below is a slideshow that captures some of what transpired.

Following this visit, jackie and Mel were able to get on a zoom call to catch up in a creative way. Four words were posed (delight, share, pain, water) and while one drew the other talked about what that word brought to mind. This Exquisite Exchange was captured in the short audio recordings and video below. Listen in and go deep with both artists and then view what they created during the conversation. The full drawing can be seen at the bottom of this blog.

During the first few months of the pandemic, a strange sense of suspension was felt by many, and S.O.U.R.C.E. was exploring care and connection in a new way. At the time, jackie was teaching a course called Radical Art Practice of Self-Care at Michigan State University. Among many things, it involved a strong emphasis on discipline and ritual, like changing out the water on an altar each day to honor ancestors, taking time to oneself by doing a sacred walk, or preparing one’s own medicines. In the video below she explains that many of the herbs we have in our kitchens contain medicine for our energetic and physical bodies. Inspired by recipes from the Prisoners’ Apothecary, she demonstrates how to make teas and fire cider with her goddaughter, Brèyon Shaw.

I have been reflecting on this a lot– the ways Herman and Albert stayed tethered to joy– as a practice, an exercise– and how that is part of the responsibility that Herman in particular bestowed onto me.

jackie sumell

The idea of radical self-care has an intricate relationship to jackie’s work. She reminisced and shared how political prisoners Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, two important collaborators, became amazing friends and teachers. She explained that their self-preservation was fueled by radical self-care, especially taking into account how living in a 6 x 9 foot cell for 23 hours a day – and in Herman’s case doing that for 41 years – could severely diminish one’s ability to thrive and love. For them, it didn’t. Instead they transcended their difficult situations. Through their examples, in a year of global lockdown, we can be inspired in our own daily lives, and as jackie, Herman and Albert invite us, to vividly imagine a world without solitary confinement or prisons.

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Written and compiled by JenJoy Roybal in collaboration with S.O.U.R.C.E and jackie sumell. JenJoy Roybal is an artist, writer, editor and digital content creator.

MORE RESOURCES
Resources to support abolishing prisons
Success stories for releasing prisoners
In this lecture at Syracuse University, Jackie unpacks her 20 year journey

Drawing from Exquisite Exchange