Coby Kennedy. Kalief Browder:the box
Kennedy’s sculpture The Box is a protest work. The steel and glass sculpture replicates the dimensions of a solitary confinement cell. The exterior features texts and graphs that explore the U.S. carceral system. The work is a critique of the gross abuses of civil liberties found in American incarceration systems. It aims to provide a creatively driven introduction to the myriad impacts of mass incarceration and to inspire participants to envision a transformed world without prisons.
Viewed from the exterior and lit from below, the sculpture pays specific tribute to Kalief Browder, who was incarcerated for three years with neither trial nor proof.
Artist Coby Kennedy felt compelled to bring this injustice to light, by creating an eight-by-ten-by-six-feet sculpture that replicates the exact dimensions of a solitary confinement cell. Framed by steel, the glass surfaces are etched with line renderings of the bed, barred window, and toilet that sparsely furnish the inhumane settings. Alongside these diagrams are texts that draw parallels between the United States’ carceral centers and Guantanamo Bay, and also critique the gross abuses of civil liberties when innocent men and women are abducted for untried crimes.
Kalief Browder: The Box was conceived of and produced by multidisciplinary artist Coby Kennedy to address the ongoing injustices of the US carceral system. It debuted at Pioneer Works in summer 2021, where it was presented with a four-part town hall series organized by For Freedoms and Negative Space to accompany viewing with a forum of discussion around these injustices. Special thanks to Pioneer Works, For Freedoms and Negative Space for its debut.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Coby Kennedy is a graduate of Columbia University’s Fine Art MFA and Pratt Institute’s Industrial Design BA programs. The artist and industrial conceptual designer have completed residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2011), Red Bull Arts Detroit (2016), and Anderson Ranch Arts Center (2018).