James Yaya Hough

Grievance


February 16 - April 1, 2023
Installation view of JTT’s front entrance. Displayed are four artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York

JTT is proud to present its second solo show with James Yaya Hough (b. 1974, Pittsburgh, PA), Grievance, a selection of 45 drawings and watercolors from his larger Invisible Life series. At the entrance of the gallery are several rubbings in black, blue and white colored pencil on the back of Inmate Grievance forms. The rubbings trace an embossed logo of a plastic folding table that reads “lifetime”. 

While Hough considers it an ongoing series, most of the works from the Invisible Life series were made while Hough was incarcerated in Graterford Prison from 1993 to 2019, with the series being made mostly between 2008 and 2016. The paper used for these works comes from the documents he was handed during his sentence including Inmate Telephone Authorization Forms, Authorized Visitors Lists, Weekly Menus from the cafeteria, Dental Sick Call Requests, lists of Christian trivia in Spanish and Official Inmate Grievances. An Official Inmate Grievance purports to allow the inmate to file a grievance to the facilities where they are held about any number of issues, such as the inappropriate behavior of a guard, a complaint against a cellmate, a request to move cells, a lack of access to the yard or poor quality of food in the cafeteria. The simple technology of triplicate paper allows for inmates to submit their complaints in writing while the form separates into different divisions of the filing system. While the form presents itself as democratic, offering the inmate an opportunity to advocate for their own needs, it is usually ignored by the facility or lost in the filing system. In many cases, submitting the form endangers the inmate, accelerating the contention already inherent within their relationship to the institution. 

In 1992, Hough was given a life sentence at the age of 17. After serving a year at a juvenile detention center, he was sent to Graterford Prison, which was the largest maximum security prison in Pennsylvania at the time. In 2012, 20 years after Hough’s initial incarceration, a Supreme Court case found that granting juveniles a life sentence violates the 8th amendment.[1] Even so, Hough was not released after the ruling. He had to submit multiple requests over a 7 year period until 2019 when he was given parole. Bureaucracy is an efficient way for the carceral system to maintain an inmate’s capture due to its archaic technology that delays processing basic rights to individuals. 

In 2008, Hough began to illustrate what he refers to as the economy of desire within the carceral system, on the very documents that represented the bureaucratic boundary between himself and his fellow inmates and their own humanity. Many of the documents on view list the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections in their headings. This resulted in the series Invisible Life which he worked on for over eight years. Invisible Life was exhibited in Rendering Justice at the African American Museum in Philadelphia curated by Jesse Krimes and Dr. Nicole Fleetwood’s field-breaking exhibition Marking Time: Art in the Age of Incarceration which debuted its multi venue exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 2020. The series was also exhibited in Hough’s first solo show at the gallery in 2021, as well as in Crossroads: Carnegie Museum of Art’s Collection, 1945 to Now currently on view at the Carnegie Museum of Art. In Grievance for the first time, the works are installed in a narrative fashion and include a display that allows viewers to see both the front and the backside of the Inmate Grievance Forms. Starting from the north side of the gallery, the drawings illustrate an entry, consumption and ultimate submission to Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections in the style of what Hough refers to as a “futuristic slave plantation.” The first work displays men in correctional uniforms that walk through a portal to become faceless, clothingless bodies on the other end. From here, the figure attempts to escape but fails, and is attached to an intricate rope and pulley system that connects him to other prisoners and the architecture around them ensuring their captivity. The series is broken up with tender watercolors, studies of his surroundings that bear witness to the people Hough spent his life with while incarcerated. As the figures navigate assembly lines, female prison guards enter into the narrative, often depicted with voluptuous bodies experiencing sexual encounters that oscillate between fantasy, humiliation and violence. Towards the end, the figure is found levitating in a cell, one drawing reads “ECCE HOMO (BEHOLD MAN) I USED TO BE BLINDSIDED BUT NOW I HAVE MANY LIGHTBULBS.” 

_________________________________________

[1] In 2012 two cases were brought before the Supreme Court arguing that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles violated the 8th amendment. Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative argued in these cases that children are constitutionally different from adults in their levels of culpability – and won with a 5 to 4 decision.

Installation view of four artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A pencil rubbing of a slender rectangular object builds up into a pyramid shape.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Colored pencil rubbings of a slender rectangular object placed horizontally in a mix of green, black and white on a yellow piece of paper.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a yellow grievance form Yaya received in prison.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A pencil rubbing of a slender rectangular object builds up into a pyramid-like shape in blue and black colored pencil.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A pencil rubbing of a slender rectangular object horizontally on a pale yellow piece of paper.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale yellow grievance form Yaya received in prison. The colored pencil rubbings bleed through the page.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, colored pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Installation view of the four free-standing framed artworks by James Yaya Hough. Each frame shows the form the drawing is on the other side.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Installation view of the four free-standing framed artworks by James Yaya Hough. Each frame shows the form the drawing is on the other side.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Installation view of six framed artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A drawing of inmates lined up walking through two poles with a noose and coming out naked and bare. Two security cameras watch over and lightbulbs line the walkway.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A drawing of two men riding a large dog pointing at a bare and naked man.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A drawing of three men in hats pulling and tugging at ropes attached to a man bent over backwards in pain.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A drawing of a man laying horizontally suspended by four ropes on top of a white horizontal prison cafeteria menu chart.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A drawing of six bare and naked men attached by a singular rope at each of their heads.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale pink authorization inmate telephone numbers form Yaya received in prison. The drawing bleeds through.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A pencil and ink drawing of three men sitting at a table.
Untitled, 2009
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Installation view of JTT’s main gallery. Displayed are twenty-three framed artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Installation view of ten framed artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. A pencil and ink drawing of bare men with no facial features lined up in a row in front of a small female body with a security camera for a head holding a baton.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Watercolor portraits of inmates on a pink piece of paper.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Watercolor portraits of inmates on a pink piece of paper.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale pink authorization inmate telephone numbers form Yaya received in prison. The drawing bleeds through.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Ink drawings of different objects and rooms in prison, the cafeteria tray, the toilet, a cell, the stool of a table with a book that writes ‘Liberty.’
Untitled, 2012
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a bare man lying on top of the prison building with his feet towards the viewer. His hands are submerged in the prison through two holes.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Red ink drawing of female nudes laying horizontally on a conveyor belt with the prison building hanging from two ropes attached to two male legs.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale pink authorization inmate telephone numbers form Yaya received in prison. The drawing bleeds through.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a bare unidentified man being flung by a rope attached to his head, the prison building supported by four pairs of legs attached to one another, and a man tied down to a mattress with a female on top with the text ‘Work Consume Be Silent Die.’
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a bare unidentified man sleeping on a plane hoisted up by several severed feet. Prison buildings surround the man also supported by feet.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Watercolor portraits of inmates.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Watercolor portrait of man with an electrical plug and a cup of utensils in the background.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Installation view of nine artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Installation view of five artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a bare unidentified man with his hands holding his hands to his head facing a dividing wall. Another bare unidentified man stands behind the wall mirroring the first’s actions, they are tied together at the head with a rope.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a bare unidentified man with his arm reaching through a standing wall supported by ropes attached to holes in the ceiling. A man dressed in a horse mascot stands on the other side of the wall.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. Drawing of a geese by the exterior of the prison fences.
Untitled, 2012
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Installation view of five framed artworks by James Yaya Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing is split into two halves, the bottom half of the drawing an inmate walks near cells with D.O.C. written on his back. The top half of the drawing is upside down and a warden pushes a cart past the same cells as the lower half scene.
Untitled, 2012
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The watercolor consists of sketches of a warden, an inmate and a man sitting, they are all in different moments.
Untitled, 2013
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The watercolor consists of sketches of different wardens, also in different moments and positions.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale pink inmate telephone authorization form Yaya received in prison. The drawing bleeds through.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The drawing consists of female wardens nude tied up on their knees.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The drawing consists of a female nude warden standing with an unidentified bare man standing in front of two nude male wardens with his hands stretched out in front of them.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Installation view of eight framed artworks by Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The drawing consists of female nude wardens in a crowd watching a nude warden punch an unidentified bare man.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a pale pink inmate telephone authorization form Yaya received in prison. The drawing bleeds through.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The drawing consists of unidentified bare men’s heads submerged in a hole in the ceiling and the rest of their bodies dangle.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on pink paper by Hough. The drawing consists of an unidentified bare man putting an envelope into a slot in the wall, while shredded bits of paper pour out the other side.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing consists of men with wolf heads in a crowd standing parallel to a slot in the wall that is labeled Box 244 Graterford, PA 19426-0244.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
4 x 9.5 in
10.5 x 24 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a white envelope.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
4 x 9.5 in
10.5 x 24 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork on a pink paper by Hough.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The Drawing consists of a chicken leg hanging from a string.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Installation view of six artworks by Hough.
installation view, Grievance, JTT, New York
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 11 in
21.5 x 28 cm
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing says ‘ECCE HOMO (BEHOLD MAN) I USED TO BE BLINDSIDED BUT NOW I HAVE MANY LIGHTBULBS.’
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a Spanish test Yaya received in prison.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
5.5 x 8.5 in
14 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing consists of an unidentified bare man tied down by money signs drawn on a prison letter.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing consists of two large hands in a praying gesture with nude men at the wrists. Nude men bow down around the large hands
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14cm
Image displays the backside of the previous artwork, a Spanish test Yaya received in prison.
Untitled, 2008-2016 (verso)
paper, ink, pencil
8.5 x 5.5 in
21.5 x 14cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The drawing consists of a sink, a radiator and a door.
Untitled, 2013
paper, ink, pencil
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm
Image displays a framed artwork by Hough. The watercolor consists of two brown boots next to a toilet.
Untitled, 2008-2016
paper, ink, pencil, watercolor
11 x 8.5 in
28 x 21.5 cm