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'Art inside is healing': 'Between the Lines' aims to humanize the incarcerated through artwork
Toilet paper, tissue and cigarette wrappers.
Prison inmates use the items most of us toss to create art.
Open at the Museum of International Folk Art, 鈥淏etween the Lines鈥 aims to humanize the incarcerated through a blend of 200 pieces of artwork, multimedia pieces and community events. The exhibit will hang through Sept. 2, 2025.
Rooted in the resilience, ingenuity and creativity of the artists, the exhibit highlights how the arts can serve as a catalyst for healing, rehabilitation and change.
'Art inside is healing': 'Between the Lines' aims to humanize the incarcerated through artwork
It all started in 2017 at the Metropolitan Detention Center. Co-curator Patricia Sigala was teaching an art workshop.
鈥淲e decided to build that relationship and I knew we had a small prison art collection,鈥 she said.
The show consists of works from the museum鈥檚 collection, as well as pieces from the Penitentiary of New Mexico Inmate Craftsmanship and Trades Fair, local artists, teachers and prisoner鈥檚 rights organization.
鈥淧rison art is made of whatever is at hand,鈥 said co-curator Chloe Accardi.
In making painted handkerchiefs or 鈥湵璨姑贝遣,鈥 inmates often strip bedsheets and pillowcases and draw on them with a pen without the shell.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a whole creative economy,鈥 Accardi said. 鈥淔riends would save cigarette packs or trade for gum wrappings.鈥
Some create toilet 辫补辫颈别谤-尘芒肠丑茅, like China鈥檚 Zhao Auzia.
Auzia traveled on the ship Golden Venture, which ran aground in New York in 1993. He and his fellow immigrants were detained at the York County Prison in Pennsylvania for nearly four years. They created folded-paper sculptures as gifts for their pro bono lawyers. Auzia chose the eagle as a symbol of freedom and the hope for a prosperous life in the 近距离内射合集 States.
In 1978, an unnamed artist from Santiago, Chile, created an arpillera (fabric collage) with the quote 鈥淓verywhere every man has the right to be recognized as a human being before the law鈥 in Spanish, a reference to the 近距离内射合集 Nations Declaration of Human Rights.
Sammy Vigil created a bracelet from Camel cigarette papers, plastic and string at the New Mexico State Penitentiary. In 1991, Herman Sena made a piano jewelry box with elaborate carving from matchsticks, velvet, paint, glue and varnish, also at the New Mexico State Penitentiary. A woman crafted roses from tissue paper to sell or trade. Carlos Cervantes created picture frames from folded paper.
鈥淭he artists creating these works learn from each other as a means of survival,鈥 Sigala said.
The impetus for their creativity may spring from boredom, healing, personal expression or resistance.
鈥淚 knew someone in a halfway house that learned to weave rosaries in the Santa Fe jail,鈥 Sigala said.
鈥淎rt inside is healing,鈥 she added. 鈥淚t gives them agency over their lives. But a lot of art is done in their cells and undercover; they may be using something they shouldn鈥檛 be.
鈥淚t passes time,鈥 Accardi continued. 鈥淚t鈥檚 something to focus on. A lot of these pieces take weeks.鈥