Jared Owens (b.1968) is a justice-impacted artist who works in painting, sculpture, and installation. He brings attention to architectures of confinement, as well as the purposeful “shadowing” of humanity, creating works that make visceral the oscillating experiences of oppression, human dignity, beauty, and erasure. Intending to raise awareness of mass incarceration and its impact on millions of individuals, he reveals correlations between the histories of slavery and the current systemic discrimination of many marginalized communities. 

Since 2021, Owens has had a studio at Silver Art Projects in the World Trade Center in New York, where he is also the Artist Liaison. He was one of three finalists for the 2024 Frieze Impact Prize and a 2022-23 Art for Justice Fellow. He was the curator of Anthem X in Winwood, Miami in 2022, featuring 42 artists who challenge personal and collective identities. Recently he was featured in Cultured Magazine (Abigail Glasgow. When Art’s Against the Carceral State) and the Voice of America “Connect” series.  

In the last three years his exhibitions include, No Justice Without Love curated by Daisy Desrosiers at the Ford Foundation, NY and Gund Gallery, OH;Visions of Transcendence: Creating Space in East and West, curated by Emma Diffley at the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, CA;Public Matters, curated by Alison Glenn for The Belt in Detroit;111… and other stories Malin Gallery, NY (Solo); Chosen Family, Martos Gallery, NY; SHAG Right of Return curated by Dana Gluck, Jesse Krimes, and Dr Nicole R. Fleetwood, Spring Hill Arts Gathering, New Preston, CT; Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration, curated by Dr Nicole R. Fleetwood (2020-2021) at MoMA PS1, NY and traveling.

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