Curated by Elgin Bokari Smith of
Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative
We are so proud to bring you the second installment of Locked Achievements. This year’s exhibition focuses on artwork made in Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative classes for girls at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) on Chicago’s West Side. The talented artists themselves have subtitled this year’s exhibition Stages of Expression, reflecting their experiences learning how self-expression is an evolving journey.
This year’s classes were led by teaching artists Marcela “Marci” Okeke and Johnetta “Awthentik” Anderson. They focused on helping students let their inner light shine through portraiture and poetry. These talented youth created works with powerful narratives that, while specific to the pain and trauma of growing up in prison, also speak to universal human struggles around friendships and love. While not everyone has had to endure incarceration, we all need friendship and love. Because we are all human.
Abolition now. Abolition forever. Until we achieve that more humane world, everyone must continue to support our children and help them realize the power of their voices and their artistic potential.
What is Stomping Grounds Literaty Arts Initiative?
Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative (SGLAI) empowers people through the art of storytelling, with a focus on incarcerated youth. Through SGLAI programming, youth get a chance to produce their own songs and albums, publish their own comics, and realize how powerful their voices and stories can be. These achievements can have a profound impact on students’ lives, from inspiring their choice of career to positively influencing their court cases and bids for freedom. That is why we use this exhibition and its accompanying exhibition catalog as mitigating evidence which is formally submitted to all of the participating artists’ official records.
Jump to…
See the Exhibition
Locked Achievements is on display at The Beautiful Cat from September – December 2026. As a window gallery, the works are viewable 24/7 at the northeast corner of Granville and Winthrop. It is located just a half block east of the Granville Red Line stop and a block west of the 147 express bus at 1070 W Granville, Chicago, IL 60660.
Closing Reception
Join us across the street at Pete’s Pizza in November as we celebrate the artists featured in this exhibition. We’ll have a DJ, food, a guided gallery tour by the curators, and a Q&A with SGLAI. We’ll also be writing messages of support to the children in the show, most of whom are still incarcerated.
Learn more about the reception
Pete’s Pizza is located just a half block east of the Granville Red Line stop and a block west of the 147 express bus at 1100 W Granville, Chicago, IL 60660.
Meet the Artists
Camiyah A.
poet
Kemora M.
poet
Serenity C.
poet
Message the Artists
Send a message to the artists, most of whom are still incarcerated. Your words of support mean a lot!
Meet the Teaching Artists
Marcela Okeke
Poet, Teaching Artist
Marcela (Marci) Okeke is a multidisciplinary artist and teaching artist whose work ranges from figurative painting to sculpture, textiles, and printing.
As an internationally exhibited artist whose work deals with the themes of generational trauma, mental health and personal myth, Marci developed a curriculum that fostered exploration of identity through portraiture of musicians and artists that the youth admired.
Students got to play with real paint on canvas in her course, allowing them to expand their fine motor skills while learning technical painting theory and somatically processing emotions.
Johnetta “Awthentik” Anderson
Poet, Teaching Artist
Johnetta “Awthentik” Anderson is a poet, emcee, host, and teaching artist from Chicago’s West Side. She stewards the Paint The Light Poetry Campaign, which is run in partnership with SGLAI. The film about this initiative is currently touring around Chicago.
Paint The Light is a poetry campaign for incarcerated youth who identify as girls. The goal is simple: to help young people explore the light within themselves and to write about the light within the communities that shaped them.
Together, they write poems that shed light on systemic structures while grounding ourselves in self-definition and self-determination.
Check out Last Year’s Exhibition
Exhibition Catalog
Bring the artists’ work home with an exhibition catalog showcasing works from the show as well as a behind-the-scenes look at SGLAI classes.
