Prison art exhibitions bring public awareness to incarcerated people’s experiences and are truly worth more than a thousand words, according to The Marshall Project.
One art exhibition included an “Federal Prison Inmate Activity Book” that resembled a child’s activity book. The book included word puzzles using terms like “larceny” and “embezzle.” The book was not published by a correctional facility; it was a project between the minds of artist Daniel M. Clifford and an unnamed incarcerated source.
One of the book’s drawings showed a panda and a oneeyed snake, and displayed this instruction: “With so many gangs in prison, it’s hard to keep track! Circle the tattoos that might be found on gang members.”
Clifford attempted to send the activity booklet to federal prisons, but officials rejected it, saying it was a security threat. Clifford found the decision to be absurd censorship, particularly when some prisons are letting in Hitler’s Mein Kampf, noted the article.
The booklet was displayed in August 2023 at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, in New York City. The center also displayed other exhibits such as “Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration,” curated by New York University Professor Nicole Fleetwood.
“Marking Time” has been displayed at numerous galleries since 2020, and was one of four exhibits in New York City in 2023 that featured artists with prison experiences. The exhibit visited California, Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. Most of the art featured social commentary, noted the Marshall Project.
The Schomburg Center exhibits included Jesse Krimes’ psychedelic quilts and Gilberto Rivera’s three-dimensional smears of paint and prison uniforms.
Native American artist Henry Frank constructed a miniature prison visitation room using Legos. As a child, sculptor Sable Elyse Smith spent time visiting her father in prison; she used prison furniture, stools, and tables to construct a structure that would look natural on a playground, proving that a child’s gaze can foil the somberness of a visitation room, and at the same time emphasize the effect of incarceration on loved ones.
Michael Tisius published his artwork in an effort to stop his execution, arguing that he had reformed after killing two jail guards in 2000.
In his clemency request, he said that he wanted to “erase some of the darkness of my past” with his artwork and “to bring some beauty into the world, while I can.”
Tisius was executed in June 2023. His murals are still displayed on the walls of a Missouri prison. He said he wanted “to brighten the environment.”
