Art & Krimes by Krimes | Film Screening & Panel Discussion

Join the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Mural Arts for a screening of Art & Krimes by Krimes. This celebrated documentary film tells the story of Jesse Krimes, an artist and graduate of The Guild program. It’s a story of confinement and freedom, of loss and creation.

While locked-up for six years in federal prison, Jesse Krimes secretly creates monumental works of art—including an astonishing 40-foot mural made with prison bed sheets, hair gel, and newspaper. He smuggles out each panel piece-by-piece with the help of fellow artists, only seeing the mural in totality upon coming home. As Jesse’s work captures the art world’s attention, he struggles to adjust to life outside, living with the threat that any misstep will trigger a life sentence. 

As described by the Director Alysa Nahmias, Art & Krimes by Krimes is a portrait of an artist, but more than that, it is about Jesse’s commitment to self-reflection, to discovering and believing in his own value as a human being in a mass-incarceration society that dehumanizes millions, and to the practice of making art. In the end, saving himself from the violence and injustice of the American criminal-legal system is not enough for Jesse; the twin privileges of whiteness and maleness can be used to further the liberation of others, too

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. 

Art & Krimes by Krimes. 2021. USA. Directed by Alysa Nahmias. 85 min.