%1

Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline, by Ndume Olatushani

During Lent, an exhibit of the Stations of the Cross in Washington, D.C., invites pilgrims to keep vigil. An app called Alight: Art and the Sacred provides maps and GPS to help the pilgrim locate stations in museums and churches, at memorials, and along streets. The first station, located across from the Supreme Court building, features Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline, by artist and former death row prisoner Ndume Olatushani. After serving 27 years for a murder he didn’t commit, Olatushani had his sentence overturned in 2012.

The Supper at Emmaus, by Jacopo Pontormo

In his 1525 depiction of the Supper at Emmaus, the Late Italian Renaissance painter Jacopo Pontormo (1494–1557) portrays the moment that Christ blesses the bread. The Lukan narrative tells how the resurrected Christ makes himself known to his followers through the breaking of bread in the obscure locale of Emmaus (24:13–35). Pontormo selects the moment before that revelation. One disciple gazes at Christ blessing the loaf, while the other concentrates on pouring red wine.

Mural at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp, Jordan, 2013

Over several years Joel Bergner (aka Joel Artista) worked with children at Zaatari Syrian refugee camp. Artista led workshops on water conservation, hygiene issues, artistic techniques, and conflict resolution. “Through discussions and art making,” Artista says, “the kids explored their longing to return to Syria, their dreams for the future, and their plight as refugees.” Last November, Artista began work in California’s Central Valley, where two-thirds of the nation’s produce is grown by undocumented and documented workers, including Punjabis, Portuguese, and Hmong refugees from Laos.