The Bell / Brown Arts Institute at Brown University in Providence, RI, will premiere “Prisoner of Love”, a new sound-based video installation by artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme.
The installation centers on poetry, music, and art created by political prisoners within systems of incarceration across time and space. Continuing their practice of utilizing opacity and fragmentation, the artists incorporate documentary materials and institutional archives. The work itself will use concrete, fabric, and weathered steel as projection surfaces.
Research for the project was conducted at Brown’s John Hay Library, where the artists consulted the “Voices of Mass Incarceration in the United States” archival project, alongside other international sources. The exhibition is co-curated by Kate Kraczon and Thea Quiray Tagle.
“Prisoner of Love” is commissioned by The Bell / Brown Arts Institute. It is a collaborative project with several international institutions, including Nottingham Contemporary (United Kingdom), Kunstinstituut Melly (The Netherlands), and Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona / MACBA (Spain).
This project was initiated in 2020 and extends the artists’ ongoing professional relationship with Kraczon, who curated their first US exhibition and catalog in 2015. The artists began their research at the John Hay Library in 2023. “Prisoner of Love” is scheduled to be on view from February 18 to May 31, 2026.
