The Warehouse

The Warehouse is a collaboration between writer and artist Vic Liu, abolitionist organizer Mariame Kaba, and Bedford Library in conjunction with BPL's Justice Initiatives.

Inspired by Liu’s book The Warehouse: A Visual Primer on Mass Incarceration (co-written with James Kilgore), the exhibition transforms Bedford Library with two dozen new paintings. These works examine survival within prison walls, the emotional distance between "inside" and "outside," and imagine approaches to community safety without reliance on punishment and prison. 

The exhibition is divided into two spaces:

• The Children’s Wing will include visual work imagining abolition on the outside: care, safety, and accountability beyond punishment.
• The Adult Wing will feature histories and practices of resistance on the inside, grounded in lived experience.

A series of free public programs will accompany the exhibition at Bedford Library, including conversations, workshops, and community gatherings. The exhibition invites us to envision what a world beyond incarceration could look like.

The Warehouse is made possible through the collaboration, care, and support of the following individuals and organizations: Interrupting Criminalization, funded by the Mellon Foundation; Mariame Kaba; Vic Liu; Radix Media; Nadia Tahoun; Colleen Hamilton; Susie Bannon; Cesar Castro; Manny Vaz; Shoestring Press; Timely Signs of Kingston; BPL’s Justice Initiatives team; and the staff at Bedford Library.