In 2007, nineteen year-old Ashley Smith died at the Grand Valley Institute for Women in Kitchener, Ontario. She had been in solitary confinement for almost a year. During the lengthy inquest into her death (2009-2013), many media outlets broadcast sensationalized imagery from her institutional abuse, including footage of her death, which officers observed and recorded, yet did not intervene. Although this documentation ultimately served as persuasive evidence that led to a verdict of homicide, their exceptionally graphic nature also tended to reinforce the illusion that horrific things only happen to vilified others.
somebody’s baby is a reflection on the ease with which a mental health crisis may descend into criminalization and incarceration. When we discover the relative innocence of Ashley Smith’s initial infraction, throwing crab apples at a postal worker, we realize how easy it is to blame the victim and thereby consider ourselves to be immune to the abuses of power.
Within his first month in power, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau directed Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to implement “… recommendations from the inquest into the death of Ashley Smith regarding the restriction of the use of solitary confinement and the treatment of those with mental illness.”
somebody’s baby is a deeply respectful reflection by Sheridan Professor Gretchen Sankey on Ashley Smith and the power of art to engage viewers’ compassion and awareness that every life is precious and everybody is somebody’s baby.
Where & Contact:
Paul Petro Contemporary Art
980 Queen Street West, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H1
tel: 416-979-7874 fax: 416-979-3390
info@paulpetro.com www.paulpetro.com
When:
January 8 – February 13, 2016
Opening Reception January 8, 7-10pm
Gallery hours: wed-sat 11-5 (or by appointment)