One Day Closer to Home

One Day Closer to Home

Students from the Metropolitan Detention Center and Gordon Bernell Charter School in collaboration with Juli Cobb, Amanda Dannáe Romero, sheri crider, and Working Classroom

February 9, 2024 – February 23, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 15, 4:30 – 6:30 pm

Sanitary Tortilla Factory is proud to present One Day Closer to Home, an exhibition celebrating the artwork, music, and writing made by students at both the Metropolitan Detention Center and Gordon Bernell Charter School (GBCS), facilitated by Amanda Dannáe Romero and sheri crider as part of the year-long residency partnering with Artists at Work & THE OFFICE Performing Arts + Film in New York along with the City of Albuquerque Department of Arts & Culture and Sanitary Tortilla Factory (STF).

Romero was one of four Albuquerque artists selected for the Artists at Work Artist Residency in the New Mexico Borderlands Region cohort for 2022-2023. As part of the residency, Romero was paired with a Cultural Organization, City of Albuquerque Department of Arts and Culture) and a Social Impact Initiative partner, the Sanitary Tortilla Factory. Throughout her year-long residency, Romero has worked with sheri crider at STF and the visual arts teacher, Juli Cobb at Gordon Bernell Charter School to develop and facilitate arts and music programming for students at the Metropolitan Detention Center and students at the GBCS North Fourth campus. This exhibition is a culmination of some of the work created throughout this residency. It explores questions and ideas related to social justice, the negative impact of the carceral system, identity, what it means to be ‘home’, and how one can be authentically involved with and supported by their community. 

Romero and crider collaborated with students in the detention center on various workshops that included writing music and lyrics, music production and recording, writing and illustrating zines, drawing, portraits, and photography. This space for self-expression gave students a platform to share their stories and experiences not only about being incarcerated, but about who they are as people. The Gordon Bernell Charter School North Fourth campus offers dynamic, flexible academic programs for students. 

Romero and crider will continue to offer this programming along with developing additional initiatives that include system impacted communities. This will be integrated into Sanitary Tortilla Factory’s ongoing framework and organizational capacity as artist and community advocates. They both look forward to engaging with other system-impacted populations through their programming and to continue to advocate for creative expression for those who are inside the system and create sustainable connections during the transition out of incarceration.