Mims x Minh Hân

Uncle Ronnie's Room

2022

Atlanta, GA

Uncle Ronnie’s Room is an art driven campaign to mobilize the general public and media around the story of Ronald Coleman Jr. 's (Ronnie) wrongful conviction. The work includes an installation, performance,  docuseries, and website hub. Ronald Coleman Jr. is sentenced to two life sentences plus 65 years for a murder that he was not involved in. He is currently incarcerated at Calhoun State Prison in Morgan, Georgia, and has been incarcerated for 22 year. Through exploring his childhood, the campaign takes us deeper into who Ronnie is as a person, more about his case, and the impact his incarceration has had on his family. The billboard includes images of Ronnie as a child, inviting us to imagine what he could have done with the 22 years of his life that was stolen from him. The billboard is a space of disruption, prayer, and a call for ancestral guidance. It includes an image of Ronnie’s Grandfather, George Sawyer, holding him as a baby. George Sawyer was an organizer during the civil rights movement era in Savannah, GA. Mims’ often wonders “What would great-grandpa do about this?”. The billboard uses a program that both her great-grandpa and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on as a background to this image of him holding Ronnie. The ending text on the billboard is a play off of George Sawyer’s  last documented interview. He was speaking about his work with Brown vs. Board of Education, and he told the press “You can’t be complacent.” The billboard says “We must not be complacent, let us pray”. Let us pray for ancestral guidance. Let us pray for focus. Let us pray that we don’t become numb to the abuse of these systems. Let us pray for cultivating more fugitive spaces and systems. Let us pray for restful lives and futures for our people. Let us pray that Ronnie comes home. The overall goal of the campaign is for his case to be opened back up for reviewing.

Photograph by Garey Gomez
Photograph by Garey Gomez
Photograph by Garey Gomez

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

Orange Barrel Media

Artwork Caption 
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