by Nate File, Philadelphia Inquirer
Published Sept. 14, 2024
Akeil is one of the featured photographers at a new exhibit by the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image, “Wherever There Is Light.” The exhibit presents the work of four formerly incarcerated photographers — Vernon Ray, Akeil Robertson, José Díaz, and Don “Ike” Jones — who spent a year developing new work that explores the American carceral system and its effects on people and communities.
“Wherever There Is Light” opened on Thursday at TILT’s gallery, located at 1400 N. American St. The gallery is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., with free admission. “Wherever There Is Light” is supported by the Pew Center for Arts and Heritage and will be on display until Dec. 31.
Haunting supervision
Robertson’s photographs create ghostly effigies representing his anxiety that he could be sent back to prison at any moment.
Robertson was incarcerated for 10 years, entering prison when he was 19. He picked up photography and art for the first time while he was inside, and said it felt revolutionary to learn that art could be a learned skill. After he was released, he began the next part of his sentence: a 15-year probation.
“I have to ask to travel anywhere. I’m subject to urinalysis at any given time. My home can be entered at any given time,” he said. Robertson, now 34 and living in Olde Kensington, is five years into his probation, but said that if he violates it at any point he could be reincarcerated and have to start his probation all over.
His exhibit photos display prison “blues,” the light blue top and navy pant scrub uniform that inmates at his correctional facility wore. Robertson originally planned to wear the blues and photograph himself juxtaposed against Philadelphia’s predominantly white, wealthy spaces that are distant from incarceration — like Haverford College, where he is the creative director for the Graterford Archive Project, a digital archive and exhibition series about people’s experiences at Graterford Prison, which was replaced by State Correctional Institution Phoenix in Montgomery County.
But after he picked up a set of blues from a dry cleaner, he said, he was “awestruck” by how they looked inside their plastic bag, carefully pressed and presented as a precious object. When Robertson used to wear his blues every day, they were torn, stitched, and decidedly not precious.
“The paper sleeve around the hanger says, ‘We Love Our Customers.’ There’s something really ironic and poetic about that,” he said.
He traveled to different places in the country, and hung his blues off trees and other structures. Robertson said he wanted his photos to create tableaux reminiscent of lynchings.
Read the rest of the article to learn about the other artist featured here: https://www.inquirer.com/arts/tilt-institute-contemporary-art-photo-exhibit-incarceration-20240914.html
“Wherever There Is Light” exhibition at TILT’s gallery, located at 1400 N. American St. is open Wednesdays to Saturdays from noon to 6 p.m., with free admission, until Dec. 31. Check out their website for more exhibition related events:
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