This inspiring exhibition features ceramic busts of wrongfully convicted men
Last January, we featured the lifelike busts of exonerated men that Becky Gottsegen created for the Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), an agency that’s been working for over 20 years to free innocent people and those serving unjust sentences.
“The 71-year-old wants her work to impact everyday people more than gallery walls and inspire not just fine art collectors, but those far less fortunate,” Jeff Roedel wrote in the article.
And now, thanks to the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge, Gottsegen’s work is in a gallery for everyone to enjoy with her exhibition featuring 23 sculptures, titled “Exonerated: Portraits of the Wrongfully Convicted.” The busts will be on display from March 21 through May 14 at the Cary Saurage Community Arts Center, with the exhibition aiming to highlight the stories of men wrongfully imprisoned and exonerated by IPNO.
“These are men that have had every bit of self-worth stripped away from them, so this is a chance to humanize them, to show a certain seriousness, with a hint of a smile, because they are now free men,” Gottsegen says. “But their faces are all so unique and expressive.”
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To celebrate the exhibition opening, there will be a reception from 2-4 p.m. this Sunday, March 23, with some of Gottsegen’s subjects in attendance. To learn more information about the exhibition and upcoming event, visit the Arts Council’s website here.
