Jackie Sumell

Sumell asked women to shave their pubic hair and send it to her in a plastic bag, which she exhibited on a clothesline at the National Mall to draw attention to the erosion of pro-choice laws under the Bush administration.

[5] While in residency at the Temple Bar Gallery in Dublin, Ireland, Sumell explored locality, difference and identity in a project called A=AGHT.

Wallace had been imprisoned since 1972 when he was placed in solitary confinement after being accused of the murder of a prison guard at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

In addition to mounting the exhibit, Sumell is endeavoring to construct The House That Herman Built as a full-size structure in Wallace's hometown of New Orleans.

As it was originally conceived, The House That Herman Built is designed to be an open space that encourages the exchange of ideas, art and activism.

It has been shown at The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, The Brooklyn Library Main Branch[9] The Royal College of Art in London, Artist's Space in New York City, The Akademie Schloss-Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany; The St Etienne Biennial, France; The Alternator Gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia; Prospect 1 in New Orleans, and ZKM in Karlsruhe, Germany.

She continued as an advocate and spokesperson for Albert Woodfox, the remaining prisoner of the Angola 3, speaking frequently on his behalf at rallies, benefits and lectures.

[11] Ms Sumell's life and work is documented in the photo-journalistic essay here The last member, Albert Woodfox, did not gain release until February 2016.

The project uses the tools of prison abolition, permaculture, and alternative education to facilitate unexpected exchanges between persons in solitary confinement and volunteer communities on the "outside."

Sumell (and other advocates of reform) suggest that the over-representation of African-American men in prison is one of the outcomes of the history of many of the United States as slave societies.