• In Town — Los Angeles and environs

ART EXHIBITION BRINGS TRUE INCARCERATION STORY TO LIFE:
“UNCLE RONNIE’S ROOM”

An installation, performance, docuseries & mobilization campaign.

Mims, an LA-based artist, abolitionist and facilitator, and Chuco’s Justice Center, a community hub for organizers, artists and educators building a social justice movement in LA, are thrilled to announce Uncle Ronnie’s Room, an art-driven campaign to mobilize the general public and media around the story of Ronald (Ronnie) Coleman Jr. and Carl Coleman’s wrongful conviction over 20 years ago.

“This project is dedicated to reopening the elapsed case of my Uncle Ronnie and his co-defendant,” says Mims. “This project is dedicated to bringing them home.”

At 29 years old, Ronald Coleman Jr. was sentenced to two life sentences plus 65 years for a murder case that he was not involved in. Ronnie is currently incarcerated at Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Georgia, where he has lost 22 years of his life and counting.

Through exploring his childhood, Uncle Ronnie’s Room takes us deeper into who Ronnie is as a person, information about his case, and the impact his incarceration has had on his family. The work invites attendees to imagine what he could have done with 22 years of his life, creates space to collectively tap into spiritual and ancestral guidance, and furthermore questions the system at large.

“It’s not the big things that I miss. The small things is what gets you the most.” – Ronnie

The Uncle Ronnie’s Room art-driven campaign includes an archival installation, performance, billboard and documentary series. More information about each piece is outlined below:

Installation

The installation is a recreation of Ronnie’s childhood bedroom which sits inside of an old cell at Chuco’s Justice Center, a former juvenile detention center in South Central Los Angeles. By sifting through his bedroom, attendees are able to get a glimpse of who he is, what he loved, and reflect on what he could have done with the 22 years that were stolen from him.

Across from Uncle Ronnie’s childhood bedroom, a second cell is transformed into an altar space. This space honors the fugitivity of praise, worship and shouting within Southern Black church traditions. It is a space that honors and asks for guidance from our elders, ancestors and plantcestors. It is a space for listening, falling apart, grieving, praying, dreaming and resting.

On the ground of the altar space lies a basket. The elements within the basket are pieces of different rocks, stones, shells, trees, flowers and nuts collected over time around Ronnie’s childhood home. There are small pieces of paper and pencils where attendees are invited to write a prayer for Ronnie and Carl and leave it in the basket.

The altar space also includes Spanish moss from the trees in front of Ronnie’s grandparents’ home in Savannah, Georgia.

Performance

The performance takes place in and around the installation of Uncle Ronnie’s childhood bedroom. The performance is a space to collectively be in ceremony and tap into other spaces of power. It’s a space to heal, fall apart and call in spiritual and ancestral guidance. Mims will be dancing to her great-grandparents’— Uncle Ronnie’s grandparents— favorite songs. Mims’ great-grandparents were organizers in the South during the civil rights movement. These songs that they loved are birthed out of Southern Black church. The performance highlights the relationship between Black churches and organizing in the South. The performance also honors and creates space for experiencing the fugitivity of praise, worship and shouting in Black church traditions.

Billboard

The billboard is a collaborative piece with For Freedoms and includes images of Ronnie as a child, inviting us to imagine what he could have done with the 22 years of his life that were stolen from him. The billboard is a space of disruption, prayer and a call for ancestral guidance. It includes an image of Ronnie’s grandfather, George Sawyer, holding him as a baby. George Sawyer was an organizer during the civil rights movement era in Savannah, Georgia. The billboard uses a program that both his grandpa and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on as a background to this image of him holding Ronnie. The ending text on the billboard is a play off of George Sawyer’s last documented interview; he was speaking about his work with Brown vs. Board of Education, and he told the press, “You can’t be complacent.” The billboard says, “We must not be complacent, let us pray.”

Docuseries

The documentary series follows the entire process of the campaign from art making, sharing Uncle Ronnie’s story, sharing about his case, mobilizing the public through media, meetings with lawyers, and reflecting with family members on how his incarceration has impacted them. It allows people to follow along with the project and get insight into the process.

Uncle Ronnie’s Room will be available for viewing during the month of May at Chuco’s Justice Center, 7625 South Central Ave in Los Angeles. A screening of the first episode of the docuseries will take place on Sunday, May 22nd at 4 PM at Chuco’s Justice Center and released live that day and uploaded to the website hub. The performance piece will take place immediately following the film.

The general public and media are key to getting this case opened back up for review and are encouraged to explore the Uncle Ronnie’s Room website/digital hub where ways to contribute are outlined under the Calls To Action tab. To learn more and to RSVP please visit www.uncleronniesroom.com.

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About Mims

Mims is an artist, abolitionist, and facilitator based in Los Angeles, CA. Her work spans across the disciplines of dance, advocacy, facilitation, curation, and direction. She experiences the body as a site of liberation and uses that information as a guide. She is fascinated by questions, interpersonal relationships, culture, and the more than human world.

About Chuco’s Justice Center

Chuco’s Justice Center serves as a youth and community space, resource center and gathering place for organizers, artists, educators and organizations building a social justice movement in Los Angeles. The CJC works to challenge the criminalization and mass incarceration of youth and communities; police unaccountability and state violence (ie: police brutality, ICE raids, gang injunctions); or the creation and/or expansion of the prison industrial complex. The CJC is a collective space where the membership and organizations involved work together to provide shared leadership that is most beneficial to the community and larger justice movement.

Press Contact:
Tatum Hawkins
(949) 238-0162
tatum.hawkins@gmail.com