Through the African American Lens: Paint Me a Road Out of Here

In 1971, underestimated artist Faith Ringgold made a monumental painting for the women incarcerated at Rikers Island jail. Fifty years later, artist Mary Baxter, who gave birth in prison 15 years ago, finds herself banding together with an eccentric bunch of activists, politicians, artists, corrections officers, and Faith Ringgold to free the painting with the ultimate goal of freeing the women. Paint Me a Road Out of Here is a wild tale of the painting’s whitewashed journey and the two artists who challenge the same powerful, oppressive, and persistent institutions, a half-century apart with their artwork, their voices, and their shared persistent goals.