"Peace in Destruction: Art From Rikers Island" Exhibition

Between 2008 and 2019, Groundswell created aproximately 50 murals at Rikers Island in collaboration with young people who were incarcerated there. While many of these visual narratives remain on the walls of the facilities, few, if any, have ever been seen outside the jail. 

Given the ongoing discussions of closing Rikers, Groundswell founder Amy Sananman recognized the importance of preserving this rich body of work and making it available to the public. In May 2024, in coordination with the Department of Correction, Sananman visited Rikers Island with celebrated street photographer Martha Cooper to document the 37 murals that remained extant and accessible. 

Our exhibition at Weeksville Heritage Center, Peace in Destruction: Art from Rikers Island, preserves the visual records and social histories of these murals while centering the lived experiences, emotions, and imaginations of young people impacted by incarceration. In addition to images of the Rikers murals, it includes newly commissioned artworks created in dialogue with Cooper's photographs by young people impacted by the carceral system. Through this pairing, the exhibition highlights the realities of confinement and systematic harm and also suggests how access to and engagement with the arts promote healting, resilience, self-expression, and transformation. By foregrounding creativity as a tool for survival and restoration, we hope to raise awareness of and spark critical dialogue around incarceration, youth justice, collective healing, the enduring impact of the carceral system, and the evolving future of Rikers Island itself. 

The exhibit was collaboratively curated by a team that included Groundswell teaching artists who had worked on our Rikers projects, alumni of our recent artmaking programs for young artists impacted by incarceration, Groundswell staff, and advisors. 

The exhibition ran from June 4th-June 27th, 2026. An opening reception was held on June 3rd.