630 sq. ft.
2019
Completed
Writing on the Wall, LLC
Hank Willis Thomas, Dr. Baz Dreisinger, Openbox
Annie joined MASS in February of 2018 as a Design Associate and is currently working on a kindergarten in Vietnam and a health clinic in Texas. Before MASS, she worked at Peter Rose + Partners and AMO/OMA in Rotterdam where she conducted research for publications and editing. She received her Bachelor of Art in psychology and architecture from the University of Toronto and her Master of Architecture I from Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Justin is a co-founder and Principal at MASS focused on expanding architectural work in the U.S. He leads the Hudson Valley Office in Poughkeepsie, NY and is dedicated to the growth of MASS’s Social Justice and Adaptive Re-use portfolios. He was the Project Architect for the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Memorial for Peace and Justice and founder of the Fringe Cities Design Lab, which researches vulnerable American cities and follows community-engaged design practices to unlock upstream capital to transform liabilities into assets.
Prior to MASS, Justin has led award winning projects at Gensler in Washington DC, Perez APC in New Orleans, and Toshiko Mori Architect in New York. He has guest lectured in seminars at Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, University of Toronto, and Dartmouth College. He holds a Master in Architecture from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.
The United States accounts for only 5% of the world’s population, but is responsible for nearly 22% of those in prison globally—more than 2 million people. Americans almost never see the suffering and deeply inhuman conditions people who are incarcerated endure. People who are incarcerated often languish voiceless, powerless, and unable to connect with the outside world, and then receive little to no support when they are released and attempt to reintegrate into society.
© Chalom + Baylock Photography
The Writing on the Wall, a collaboration between artist Hank Willis Thomas, Dr. Baz Dreisinger, and MASS Design Group, is a traveling exhibition and installation constructed from over 2,500 essays, poems, letters, stories, drawings and notes written by individuals in prison around the world. The project was conceived by Dr. Dreisinger and conceptual artist Thomas as an effort to spread awareness and promote efforts to end mass incarceration. The exhibition was designed by MASS Design Group.
Viewers walk through a space emulating individual cells, presenting these often-unseen spaces to a wider audience. Referencing the palimpsest-like writing on the walls of prison cells throughout history, the exhibition layers writings onto opaque and transparent acrylic panels. The personal experiences, thoughts, and emotions of people who are incarcerated are visible within this enclosed space, connecting visitors to these individuals and challenging them to better understand the crisis of our modern criminal justice system. The exhibition will serve as a platform for incarcerated individuals to share their voices amid growing conversations on the effects of mass incarceration around the world.
The Writing on the Wall opened on October 31st on the High Line in New York City, and was on display through November 10th.