Amanda Michelle Gomez
A D.C.-based artist recently had two of her paintings stolen during her first-ever solo exhibition. The obvious thing to do would be to report the incident to the police.
But the artist, AnaYelsi Velasco Sanchez, decided against that. She’s a police abolitionist who believes there are other more effective and less lethal ways to protect the community. Instead, Velasco Sanchez posted about the incident on her social media, which garnered a lot of attention.
In the social video, Velasco Sanchez describes how an individual came to the new art gallery at the Festival Center in Adams Morgan on Sept. 14 and took two of her paintings. The 11” by 14” paintings were on display just behind a staff member, and the individual simply grabbed and put them in his bag. The theft happened in under three minutes, according to Velasco Sanchez, who reviewed surveillance footage.
Velasco Sanchez says the the individual returned a few days later to the Festival Center, presumably to take more artwork. When a staff member recognized him and approached him, the individual became defensive, according to Velasco Sanchez. Staff followed him out to his car and saw the paintings there in the backseat, she says, but he sped off.
She shared the video in the hopes that the individual (or someone connected to him) sees it and returns her paintings, which are valued at $200 each. She also wants to have a conversation with him, in order to get an apology and understand why he stole the paintings to begin with. She was especially surprised by the brazenness of his actions.
Nonetheless, Velasco Sanchez and the Festival Center agreed to respond to the incident through restorative justice. That process focuses on centering the victim’s needs and reaching a resolution between the harmed and accused without relying on incarceration. Velasco Sanchez says she believes in consequences to crime, just not aggressively punitive ones.
Festival Center executive director Bill Mefford says the organization shares Velasco Sanchez’s values. Notably, on the day the art was stolen in the gallery, Festival Center had held an event on the failures of mass incarceration.
Velasco Sanchez also sees the choice to not involve the police as living the values she often explores in her artwork: justice and liberation.
“It should be healing, joyful and holistic. And should be seeing the humanity in every individual,” Velasco Sanchez says of justice. “We all can be a perpetrator of harm and probably have been.”
The timing of the theft came at a pivotal moment in the artist’s career: her first solo exhibit. She’s been a professional artist since 2012, primarily working in acrylic paint but dabbling in mixed media. She was incredibly nervous up until the show’s opening day (Sept. 7) because of how vulnerable you have to be to put your art on display for people to react to, she says. In addition to justice and liberation, her art explores mental health and identity.
One of the paintings that was stolen was about injustice. The painting, titled Bountiful: The land of thoughts and prayers, is about police killing people of color and mass shootings. Velasco Sanchez says she processed a lot of her anger about America’s myths by making that artwork.
The other one, Equilibrium, was about processing her own mental health struggles and finding balance with the tumultuous. Someone had already purchased the work , but Velasco Sanchez had to return the money once she discovered the painting had been stolen.
It took her about ten hours to make both pieces. The Festival Center didn’t provide insurance for the art, and she didn’t think to purchase it herself either. She says she didn’t expect someone to violate the community space, which hosts grassroots organizations and other civic events in addition to art exhibitions.
Despite the violation, Velasco Sanchez is not interested in pressing charges against the individual, even though it would likely be easy to given that the Festival Center captured footage during the theft and obtained license plate information when he returned a few days later. The Festival Center did contact the police after he returned, but only to contact him, Mefford says. They hope to reach a compromise with the individual.
“I know what happens to people even, for petty crimes in the legal system,” Velasco Sanchez says. “There’s no reason for any of that to happen to a person because of some paint and some canvas.”
Velasco Sanchez, for her part, would like for the person to be barred from the center for a period of time or be under greater observation when he is in the building until trust can be rebuilt. Velasco Sanchez is also not deterred by the incident — she’s keeping her art up at the Festival Center until the end of the year.
There’s been a 20% increase in property crime in Adams Morgan compared to last year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Many Adams Morgan residents have described feeling less safe, but don’t always agree on the correct response to increased property crime. Velasco Sanchez hopes sharing her story will spark a conversation about ways other than arrest and incarnation.
