The exhibition provides a cumulative overview of the Wherever There Is Light project. The majority of the exhibition features photographs created by Larry W. Cook and the Philadelphia cohort including Jose Diaz, Don “Ike” Jones, Vernon Ray and Akeil Robertson. The self portrait suite created by the Los Angeles cohort including Adamu Chan, Jonathan Chiu, Eddie Herena, Javier Jimenez, and Hein Mai in 2020, compliments a portrait series shaped by the Philadelphia cohort. Collectively, these photographs ask viewers to sharpen their vision with an eye toward cultivating a sense of self and sustaining social bonds that uplift community and humanity more broadly. Wherever There Is Light includes a range of photographic mediums including digital photography, digital collage and conceptual installations. This exhibition also provides documentation of creative processes behind the art featured in Wherever There Is Light. An illustrated exhibition catalog with essays by exhibition curator, Melanee C. Harvey, and Wherever There Is Light artist, Akeil Robertson, accompany the exhibition.

Wherever There Is Light has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.

Wherever There Is Light is an extension of photographer Larry W. Cook's collaborative art practice of mining, reflecting, and transforming carceral aesthetics toward liberatory practices that focus on repair, futurity, self-definition, and social critique. The initial project involved working with a cohort of artists based in Los Angeles. For this iteration of the project, Cook brought together formerly incarcerated artists originally from Philadelphia and New York to create work that extends beyond the categories of vernacular visual depictions of the carceral state. The artists from both cohorts, along with Cook and curator Melanee C. Harvey, PhD. had an in-depth discussion about the exhibition.

Pardon Me by Shuja Moore / 31 minutes run time

What These Walls Won’t Hold by Adamu Chan / 43 minutes run time, second film to show