from Earth First! Prisoner Support Project team / Never Alone
Support Your Friends by Matt Guack – From the 2013 Never Alone art exhibition.
Dear Artists,
This year on June 11 – the International Day of Solidarity with Marie Mason, Eric McDavid & all Eco-prisoners – we will be running the 2nd annual Never Alone online exhibition. It will serve as an avenue not only for fundraising for these political prisoners, but as a way to reach out informatively to a broad audience on issues of earth & animal liberation and state captivity. We would love to invite you to contribute an artwork to this exhibition.
June 11 started back in 2004 as the International Day of Solidarity with Jeff ‘Free’ Luers, an eco-prisoner sentenced to 22+ years in prison in Oregon (U.S.) for an act of arson against 3 light trucks in an effort to highlight the threat of climate change. This threat is now widely recognised, as was the incredibly unjust sentence that Jeff received. An international campaign of support had a massive impact on the fact that Jeff’s sentence was ultimately reduced to 10 years. By the time he was released in 2009 many other activists in the U.S. had been locked up in prison for standing up for a better world. Two of these prisoners – Eric McDavid and Marie Mason – had been sentenced to 20 and 22 years respectively. Both were sentenced severely for their willingness to fight for a world without oppression – be that of the earth, other animals, or our human communities.
Last year the Never Alone exhibition raised important funds for Marie and Eric’s support campaigns. We want to build on all the amazing support shown by artists and art buyers, and make this year’s exhibition an even bigger and more successful fundraiser. You can still see last year’s online exhibition here.
Marie and Eric
Marie and Eric are contributing artworks for the exhibition, as well as a number of other amazing artists already on board. We are inviting a range of incredibly talented artists to contribute, whose art regularly touches on themes of liberation, wilderness and political action. We are very interested in contributions of original work, prints and small sculptures, and any other ideas that artists may have. Please feel free to get in touch and discuss with us any ideas you might have.
The exhibition will be online at www.neveraloneart.org, from June 11-30. It will be promoted heavily through our support networks, social media, and through other June 11 events being organised around the world. Artists involved would need to be able to provide suitable images of their artwork/s, as well as details of the dimensions, medium/s and price (incl. cost of postage within the U.S).
We are hoping that any artists involved will be willing to contribute between 100-70% of the sale of any artworks at the exhibition, with funds raised going directly to the support funds of Marie Mason and Eric McDavid. We would also require artists to be responsible for posting any sold artworks to the purchaser, with those costs being reimbursed to you by our collective.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Expressions of interest close on May 1st, 2014. We really hope to hear from you if you are interested in contributing, and look forward to working with you!
In solidarity,
The Earth First! Prisoner Support Project team
[email protected]
supporteric.org
supportmariemason.org
Download the pdf of this call out here.
