ArtsThursdays: “Paint Me a Road Out of Here” screening and discussion with Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, Catherine Gund, and Yara Shahidi, moderated by Sarah Lewis

In 1971, underestimated artist Faith Ringgold made a monumental painting for the women incarcerated at Rikers Island jail. Fifty years later, artist Mary Enoch Elizabeth Baxter, who gave birth in prison 15 years ago, finds herself banding together with an eccentric bunch of activists, politicians, artists, corrections officers and Faith Ringgold to free the painting with the ultimate goal of freeing the women. Paint Me a Road Out of Here is a wild tale of the painting’s whitewashed journey and the two artists who challenge the same powerful, oppressive and persistent institutions, a half century apart with their artwork, their voices and their shared, persistent goals.

Every Thursday evening, a Harvard arts institution or organization will open its doors to the Harvard community and the wider public for free performances, exhibitions, lectures and other events as part of a presidential initiative that promotes access to the arts at Harvard. ArtsThursdays is a university-wide initiative sponsored by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).