Beyond Punishment: Applied Cartooning for a Liberatory Future
When
Mar 5, 2026
5:30pm–8:30pm
Cost
This event is sold out.
How can making cartoons shift the way we see our world, ourselves, and our future?
How does drawing give us a sense of agency and empowerment?
Join acclaimed cartoonist and cofounder of the Center for Cartoon Studies, James Sturm, along with Elgin Bokari T. Smith of Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative and Pocket Con, for an interactive discussion and art-making session that asks participants to question the punishment paradigm and imagine beyond it.
Each participant will receive a copy of the Applied Cartooning Lab’s new graphic novel, Beyond Punishment: A Guide to Mass Incarceration, and will leave with the tools to create their own zine.
Participants will have the opportunity to view Faylita Hicks' new solo exhibition, The Digital Archives of the Unseen: Poetry and Portraits from the Age of Censorship and Detention, and hear from the artist.
Program Schedule:
- 5:30 p.m. | Doors open; peruse the exhibition and enjoy light snacks
- 6:00 p.m. | Programming begins
- 7:45 p.m. | Buffet dinner from Flor Boricua
Participants
James Sturm
James Sturm is a cartoonist and the cofounder of The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS), where he serves as the director and editor of CCS’s graphic guide series.
Sturm's writings and illustrations have appeared in many publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education, Slate, The Paris Review, The Onion, The New York Times, and on the cover of The New Yorker.
Mr. Sturm was a 2020-21 Harvard Radcliffe Institute Fellow and a 2008 and 2015 MacDowell Colony Fellow.
Elgin Bokari T. Smith
Elgin Bokari T. Smith (a.k.a. L O Kari) is the founder of Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative, where he serves as Artistic and Executive Director.
Long-time Illinois Humanities programming and grantee partner, Elgin is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and social activist from St. Louis, Missouri, with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has collaborated with institutions like the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum and Northwestern University on youth justice projects and served as a teaching artist for numerous Chicago organizations.
As co-creator of Pocket Con, Elgin is dedicated to empowering diverse communities through the arts.
Faylita Hicks
Faylita Hicks (she/they) is a writer, interdisciplinary artist, and cultural architect advancing new models for how language, spirit, and technology shape collective memory and public life. A queer Afro-Latinx visionary, Hicks works across poetry, memoir, installation, and sound performance to confront carcerality, censorship, and grief while proposing liberatory cultural futures.
They are the author of A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books, 2024), winner of the 2025 Midwest Book Award and Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year Award; HoodWitch (2019), finalist for the Lambda Literary Award; and the forthcoming memoir A Body of Wild Light (2027). Hicks is a 2025 Haymarket Writing Freedom Fellow, a 2023 Envisioning Justice Grantee, and a 2022 Art for Justice Fund Grantee.
In 2026, Hicks presents The Digital Archives of the Unseen at Walls Turned Sideways (February 6 – May 24, 2026) and serves as Artist-in-Residence with Worth Rises.
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Venue Parking and Directions
Parking
There is street parking available on Madison St. Additionally, the venue shares a parking lot half a block down that can accommodate about 10-12 cars.
Directions
Located on Madison Street between California and Washtenaw Avenues, the venue is accessible from the California Green Line stop, the #20 Austin's Madison & Washtenaw bus stop, the #126 Austin's Jackson & Washtenaw bus stop, and the #94 Addison/Rockwell's California & Madison bus stop.
Get driving directions here.
Accessibility
The venue has two ADA accessible restrooms and insertable ramps for the entrance, which have a slight ledge to them.
If you require accommodations to participate in this event fully, please contact Elise Pakiela at events@ilhumanities.org at least 48 hours before the event.
Walls Turned Sideways
The mission of Walls Turned Sideways is to build bridges that connect people in prison, their families, artists, and other community members using art, exhibitions, and political education with a focus on collective liberation, healing, and abolition.
Follow @wallsturnedsideways: Website | Instagram | Facebook
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Contact
Suite 650, 125 South Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60603
312.422.5580 312.374.6787 Fax
Illinois Humanities is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Illinois General Assembly [through the Illinois Arts Council], as well as by contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations.
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Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed by speakers, program participants, or audiences do not necessarily reflect those of the NEH, Illinois Humanities, our partnering organizations, or our funders.
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