Artist-in-Residence (2025 - 2026)
Exhibition Opening
"End Cash Bail" — which showcases the impact of Texas jails on incarcerated folks and their loved ones through breathtaking poetry, paintings, collages, cyanotypes, photography, and more — culminates KB Brookins' artist residency with the ACLU of Texas.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
5:30 – 8 p.m. CT
Lawndale Art Center
Cecily E. Horton Gallery
4912 Main Street
Houston, Texas 77002
Project Focus
Through original composition, workshop facilitation, community curation, and public presentation, KB Brookins drew attention to the human impact of pretrial detention in Texas jails, with a particular focus on Harris County.
Learn more about KB's residency at Texas Public Radio, Glasstire, Houston Chronicle, The Texas Signal, ARTNews, and The Art Newspaper.
Poets & Advocates Against Cash Bail
Seven out of 10 people in Texas jails are waiting for a court date. Most are jailed because they can’t afford bail. While wealthy people buy their freedom, everyone else just waits behind bars — for weeks, months, even years — ripped from their families, forced to leave their jobs, and separated from their communities.
KB Brookins led an arts-based action with current and former Houston poet laureates across from the Harris County Jail. Poets, advocates, and survivors of the cash bail system joined together to demand change.
Photos: Lexi Parra
I’m so excited and grateful to be an artist-in-residence with the ACLU of Texas! My project will include writing workshops, op-ed curation, and art events on pretrial detention in Harris County jails. This work is so important to me. I hope to do my part in creating a world beyond carceral punishment.