Gregory Sale

Gregory Sale is an artist and advocate for justice reform and successful re-entry after incarceration. Gregory dedicated his creative practice to the country’s incarceration crisis after visiting Tent City Jail in Arizona’s 115-degree weather, speaking with female chain gang members, and witnessing male inmates dressed only in pink underwear marching in public.

Gregory’s project It’s Not Just Black and White turned the Arizona State University Art Museum into a center for civic dialogue. His artwork collapsed boundaries, encouraging reciprocal dialogue and mutual learning among incarcerated people and their families, as well as victims’ families, parole officers, judges, elected officials, and community members. The project began as a collaboration with 14 inmates, and grew to encompass 52 related events, with 37 institutional and community partners and nearly 20,000 visitors.

In 2015, Gregory produced Rap Sheet to Resume, a workshop and social art project, for the Urban Justice Center in New York City. Acknowledging tensions between social and self-perceptions and career goals, project participants helped create an installation, exploring the significance of “threads” (uniforms, costumes, or suits) worn while inside prison and “threads” they envision wearing in the future.

Gregory’s work has been supported by Creative Capital, Art Matters, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. He is a professor of Intermedia and Public Practice at Arizona State University, Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts, School of Art.

Photo Credit: Catherine Akins

Photo Credit: Stephen Gittins