seeds of connection:dreams of freedom

April 4th, May 31st 2025

Visible Records is excited to announce a new immersive exhibition, seeds of connection: dreams of freedom (Friday April 4 - May 31st) which invites you to listen closely to the voices and dreams of those impacted by the criminal legal system. The exhibit weaves together multidisciplinary abolitionist projects, The People’s Paper Co-op, originating in Philly, and an ongoing abolitionist community project at Visible Records.

Visible Records is home to a community of abolitionist artists and activists who regularly collaborate with incarcerated people. These collaborations have grown into a community garden, now in its third year, where the planting is directed by the incarcerated, referred to as solitary gardeners. In this latest project, the solitary gardeners have become solitary curators. Through a series of questions, solitary curators connected with incarcerated artists across the country to ask: What does community care look like? What does your best day feel like? Who is your neighbor? How do you express love? What would it feel like to be free? The exhibition features their powerful responses in paintings, drawings, poetry, letters and more. 

Lets Get Free! The Art and Activism of the People’s Paper Co-op, showcases ten years of cultural organizing campaigns and public art that have reached tens of thousands of viewers and raised over $225,000 to free Black moms and caregivers. 

Through a deeply collaborative and multidisciplinary process, the PPC (a project of The Village of Arts and Humanities in North Philadelphia) worked directly with communities impacted by the criminal legal system to reshape the reductive and discriminatory stories that criminal records tell, into creative campaigns that imagined a future world beyond our broken systems. Art projects made from shredded criminal records, collaborative prints, films, and billboards are just some of the many modes of expression viewers will encounter in this immersive installation. 

Viewed as a whole, this exhibition becomes a communal garden of narratives, where art and storytelling cultivate space for reflection, empathy, and solidarity. The show is more than a collection of works; it is a testament to the power of care as radical acts. It invites each of us to tend to these stories, to nurture understanding, and to imagine new possibilities for connection and hope. 

Join us for an opening reception as well as a robust series of public workshops, film screenings, concerts, letter writing, and art making events that invite participants to not only hear these powerful stories, but become part of ongoing efforts to create a more just, safe, and free future.