PASADENA—A solo exhibition by artist Ara Oshagan entitled Juvies will open at the Armory Center for the Arts in the Mezzanine Gallery on Sunday, June 27 and will be on view through August 29, 2010. An opening reception will take place on June 26 from 7-9 p.m. in conjunction with International Mail Art Exhibition in Honor and Memory of Judith Hoffberg curated by Jay Belloli, which opens in the Armory’s Caldwell Gallery.
Juvies is a photographic/textual project about the lives of juvenile offenders in the California prison system. Working with filmmaker Leslie Neale for three years, Oshagan had the privilege of photographing nine juvenile inmates and their lives in L.A.’s juvenile hall and in prisons across state. His project is multi-faceted and strives to move beyond the traditional visual representation of incarceration by allowing the offenders to tell their own story. Besides his own photographs (singles, diptychs and triptychs), this project includes hand-written texts and drawings by the juveniles themselves as well as their thoughts—by way of excerpts from extensive interviews.
This exhibition will be on view in the Mezzanine Gallery at the Armory at 145 North Raymond Avenue, Pasadena, and is open Tuesday – Sunday, noon – 5 p.m. Admission is free. The Armory is easily accessible from the Gold Line Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. For information about Armory exhibitions and events, the public may call 626.792.5101 x122 or visit the Armory website at www.armoryarts.org.
