Alison Cornyn on remembrance and ‘Unearthing the Light’

On this week's 51%, we speak with artist Alison Cornyn about a new exhibit remembering the lives lived and lost at the site of the former New York Training School for Girls. Now a prison for men, the New York Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York served as a reform school and juvenile detention center for "incorrigible" girls, including a young Ella Fitzgerald. For years, Cornyn has been researching the site's history and speaking with its former residents, hoping to bring to light the ways in which we punish girls for independent or defiant behavior. Her new exhibit, called "Unearthing the Light," raises awareness of a little-known cemetery on the site, and the neglect and erasure of marginalized bodies.

Guest: Alison Cornyn, artist and curator at The Church in Staatsburg

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. This episode also contains the track "Played by Ear" by Jangwa.