ARTIST'S STATEMENT

In 2021, I was introduced to Innocence & Justice Louisiana  (IJLA) (formerly Innocence Project New Orleans) by my friend Frank Neuner who was serving as the President of their Board of Directors. He commissioned me to create a portrait of Jerome Morgan, one of the men IJLA had exonerated. After creating two more portraits. my husband and I attended their gala in 2022.  I was so disturbed by the stories of these men who were imprisoned for so many years of their lives for crimes they did not commit.  I made a pledge to myself that night that I would attempt to sculpt them all. I decided to photograph the exonerees at the gala that night and then began to sculpt portraits of the rest of the men to honor them and show them that they were seen and their stories heard..

After completing and gifting five of the portraits, I was encouraged by my son and others to put together an exhibition of this work to draw attention to the tireless work of Innocence & Justice Louisiana  and the other innocence projects and independent lawyers doing pro-bono work around the country.

I put together an exhibition of 23 portraits in New Orleans in May, 2024, that coincided with "Give NOLA Day" and we had a reception where 13 of the men featured were in attendance and the guests were able to talk to them and hear parts of their stories. There was no press release or marketing so the exhibition didn't get the attention we would have liked. 

 After the exhibition closed,  I hired a mold maker from Atlanta to help me make silicone molds of the clay portraits so that I could gift the originals to the men as planned but produce copies to show in future exhibitions. These cast copies of the original portraits were exhibited at the Shell Gallery at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center  in March and April 2025, the East Baton Rouge Main Library from May-August, both in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. These 23 men served a total of 644 years for crimes they did not commit. After the exhibition came down, I sculpted an additional four exonerees; Gregory Bright by IJLA, Isaac Knapper by lawyer Laurie White, Michael Anthony Williams by Innocence Project New Orleans, and John Thompson who was exonerated by a private firm in Philadelphia, and now there are 27 portraits.

I am hoping that this exhibition will draw attention to the many innocent people spending years of their lives in Louisiana prisons and encourage support of the work of IJLA and other innocence projects and private pro-bono lawyers so that more innocent people can be freed. The Louisiana State Legislature is trying their hardest to make future exonerations nearly impossible by limiting the time that new evidence can be presented after conviction. Our current Governor has reinstated the death penalty and is working diligently to shorten the time before execution for those serving on death row. 

Becky Gottsegen, Artist