CⓞL𝓊MBIΔ
C๏𝕝𝕝EC𝔱IV𝔼
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FRAUGHT IMAGINARIES
ANTI-CARCERAL COLORING BOOK
Limited edition of 125
ORDER HERE
Limited edition of 125
ORDER HERE
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ABOUT THE COLLECTIVE
The Columbia Collective is a collective of emerging female and trans artists with experiences of incarceration. Founded in 2019 at the Columbia Secure Center for Girls, a maximum-security juvenile facility in New York, the collective uses collaborative artistic practice to challenge institutional boundaries and imagine possibilities beyond confinement. Although the facility has closed, the collective continues its work.
The collective has exhibited and collaborated with Pioneer Works, MOXI, Siena College, Border Patrol, Shandaken Projects, Athens Cultural Center, and Girls Inc.
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ARTIST PORTFOLIOS
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PAST EXHIBTIONS/EVENTS
SHE/ROSE
by M.A. Donato 
Marilynn's first book, She / Rose, is a collection of poems written before and after the author's stay in the New York State Columbia Secure Center for Girls. A paint chip poetry workshop followed where participants crafted poems with the author using the names of paint samples.
Special thanks to Border Patrol, CA for printing and distributing the book and for hosting our panel discussion.
Sands >< 𝔅𝔢𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔡/𝔗𝔥𝔯𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥/𝔅𝔢𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢 >< Time
@ MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation
in collaboration with Girls Inc. of Greater Santa BarbaraJuly - January, 2024
PRESS RELEASE & FREE COLORING BOOK PAGES
︎︎︎DOWNLOAD
BILLBOARD EXHIBITION
Exhibited on the occasion of "A Copious Flow," organized by Shandaken Projects and co-sponsored by the Athens Cultural Center
Featuring Artists :
J︎y, Marshm︎llow, Mari︎ynn & R︎ry Rei
August 1-28, 2023
J︎y, Marshm︎llow, Mari︎ynn & R︎ry Rei
August 1-28, 2023
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The Columbia Collective is a group of emerging female/trans incarcerated/formerly incarcerated artists exercising creative freedom across states of confinement, named for the maximum juvenile secure center in which they lived and worked. The group is currently comprised of six artists; Marshmallow, Jay, Juste-A, Marilynn, Torei and Toni, and was founded in 2020 by artist Maggie Hazen, which she co-directs with her curatorial partner, Sofia Thieu D’Amico.
From 2019 to 2021, the group met weekly for arts instruction based on a graduate-school MFA model, in which artists cultivate their own visions and projects, outside of an established curriculum with grades and assignments. For the past five years, Hazen has cultivated artist communities in other NY state prison facilities, actively working with abolition-minded community partners to connect the Collective to resources and transitional support post-incarceration through fundraising, storytelling, and mentorship.
Since the formation of the Columbia Collective, the group has exhibited and collaborated with Pioneer Works, Red Hook, NY; the Moxi Children’s Museum, Santa Barbara, CA; Siena College, NY; Boarder Patrol, Bakersfield, CA; Shandaken Projects, NY; The Athens Cultural Center, Catskill, NY; and Girls Inc., Santa Barbara, CA.
JUVENILE JUSTICE ARTS & MEDIA NETWORK INC. 501c3
From 2019 to 2021, the group met weekly for arts instruction based on a graduate-school MFA model, in which artists cultivate their own visions and projects, outside of an established curriculum with grades and assignments. For the past five years, Hazen has cultivated artist communities in other NY state prison facilities, actively working with abolition-minded community partners to connect the Collective to resources and transitional support post-incarceration through fundraising, storytelling, and mentorship.
Since the formation of the Columbia Collective, the group has exhibited and collaborated with Pioneer Works, Red Hook, NY; the Moxi Children’s Museum, Santa Barbara, CA; Siena College, NY; Boarder Patrol, Bakersfield, CA; Shandaken Projects, NY; The Athens Cultural Center, Catskill, NY; and Girls Inc., Santa Barbara, CA.
JUVENILE JUSTICE ARTS & MEDIA NETWORK INC. 501c3
J
USTE-A
Juste-A was born and raised in Bronx, Ny for 16 years then moved to Oneonta, NY. Growing up Juste-A thought life was going to be rainbows and unicorns, but then it wasn’t. Now Juste-A has been through a lot and can now see what reality is and is learning who she is and trying to find her voice. Being in jail is not giving Juste-A an opportunity to find herself. She has no one to confide in so she writes.
JAY
Jay is 16 years old as he writes this, and he used to live in Syracuse. Now, he lives at Brookwood Secure, whatever that’s suppose to be. Because even though he lived there, it’s not his home. He doesn’t have one. He’s been through some struggles, everyone has at some point, and he expesses how he feels about those struggles by pouring it out onto paper. Take a look at his art, and maybe you’ll feel something too.
MARILYNN
I am 18 years old. I was first placed into the system at the age of 13 and remianed there for about three years. I’ve been to a lot of different juvenile detention facilities. The system has taught me so much but so little at the same time. I enjoy drawing, painting, and reading which got me through most of my many rainy days. I aspire to help those who once were in similiar positions as me. 
