We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (after Angela Davis)

We Lit the Fire and Trusted the Heat (after Angela Davis) is composed of salvaged jail debris following the 2021 demolition of Division I at the Cook County Department of Corrections in Chicago. This work stems from the artist's sustained engagement with the nearly century-old carceral institution located within her childhood neighborhood. The title, drawn from a line in "Angela Davis: An Autobiography," highlights how community building and collective action are acts of creativity, trust, and transcendence. This concept is manifested in three distinct sculptures—a demolition bucket, a claw, and a grappler used during the jail's deconstruction—which integrate cell bars to evoke its carceral history while honoring the lives of individuals once held within. Using the metal as a conductor, the musical improvisations generate a sonic structure of care, support, and release, standing in contrast to those of submission, restraint, and control.

Starting from the top:

• Performance still and video of Elena Pinderhughes and Samora Pinderhughes’ performance at the Institute for the Arts and Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, 2024.

• Musician and composer Dr. James Gordon Williams performs at the Institute for the Arts and Sciences, Santa Cruz, CA, 2023. Video by IAS.

• Musician and composer Dr. James Gordon Williams’ performance at El Museo Del Barrio in Gaspar’s exhibition, Force of Things, on June 21, 2023. Video by El Museo Del Barrio; Oresti Tsonopoulos and Alex Munro.

• Musican Thaddeus Tukes performance at the National Museum of Mexican Art, 2025. Video by Truth & Documentary.

• Musican Thaddeus Tukes performance at Gallery 400 at the University of Illnois at Chicago, 2025. Video by Truth & Documentary.

*Other musical collaborators include The Innocents, Thomas Stanley, and Jamal Moore.

2023-Ongoing

2022-Ongoing

18 steel cell bars and custom birch resonators

4 1/8” X 26 3/4” X 61 1/8”