Located at the Baustein Building, Eastworks, and 33 Hawley in Northampton: [de]RANGE seeks to draw attention to gun violence during the month of June. Some content may be distributing for some audiences.
[de]range was created by Attack Bear Press lead artist Jason R. Montgomery (JRM) to engage and highlight the facts and potential solutions to the gun violence epidemic in the US. As an artist, gun owner and a survivor of gun violence JRM fully recognizes the complexity of the issue and how deeply rooted it is in our culture. Further, we firmly support those in the BIPOC community who believe that in the face of systemic racism their lives are made safer because of gun ownership. We have chosen with this exhibition to take the stance that gun violence is a public health issue. We hope to help our audience recognize that a comprehensive public health approach is needed to address this growing crisis. For the sake of this exhibition we agree with the American Public Health Association (APHA) statement regarding gun violence as a public health issue:
“A public health approach to preventing gun violence recognizes that violence is contagious and can become epidemic within a society. Primary prevention involves the use of core public health activities to interrupt the transmission of violence: (1) conducting surveillance to track gun-related deaths and injuries, gain insight into the causes of gun violence and assess the impact of interventions; (2) identifying risk factors associated with gun violence (e.g., poverty and depression) and resilience or protective factors that guard against gun violence (e.g., youth access to trusted adults); (3) developing, implementing and evaluating interventions to reduce risk factors and build resilience; and (4) institutionalizing successful prevention strategies.”
-- APHA Advocacy Fact Sheet for Gun Violence Prevention
This project is funded in part by a generous grant from the Northampton Arts Council and Masscultural Council. We would also like to thank the Northampton Arts Trust, the Readywipe Gallery, and A.P.E Gallery.