A massive hand presses down, its fingers cracking the walls of a tiny prison cell. Inside, a man kneels, tending to the only thing that dares to grow: a single yellow flower, its roots breaking through the concrete floor. Daniel Teribery, the artist of this piece, wrote in his artist’s statement that art helped him find himself, giving him a life and a new beginning. His work, along with the work of hundreds of others, was on display at the 29th Annual Exhibition of Artists in Michigan Prisons.
The University of Michigan’s Prison Creative Arts Project curated its annual exhibition, showcasing original works by 538 incarcerated Michigan artists in the Duderstadt Center Gallery from March 18 through April 1.
PCAP, a program within the Residential College, strives to connect individuals impacted by the justice system through art. The program includes undergraduate classes, weekly art workshops in Michigan prisons and smaller exhibitions throughout the year. This exhibition, one of the largest of its kind in the world, served as a platform for incarcerated artists to share their stories with the outside world.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Nora Krinitsky, the director of PCAP and lecturer in the RC, highlighted the extensive process of curating the exhibition and connecting with artists in Michigan’s 26 prisons.
“Even though it’s only on view for two weeks, it’s really a yearlong process,” Krinitsky said. “In the fall, we contact every prison in the state and we schedule a visit to those facilities. … When we go to each prison, we go to each prison, we meet with artists there, view the work that they’ve created, learn about their process and then select pieces that we want to include in the show.”
The exhibition featured a range of artistic styles and subjects, with some pieces reflecting prison life while others depicted imaginative worlds and natural landscapes. LSA junior Olivia Glinski organized donated art and visited 10 prisons to curate the exhibition. In an interview with The Daily, Glinski said the exhibition aims to not only showcase artistic talent but also the adaptability of incarcerated artists with limited resources.
“What’s always so fascinating and just leaves me in awe every time is the resourcefulness of people inside,” Glinski said. “Not every facility gets the same supplies, so some people are using coffee grounds, ground up soap or toothpaste to create the art they’re making…. People inside are so dedicated to creating something and to expressing themselves and to showing the outside world what is going on inside. It’s resourcefulness like I’ve never seen before, and it changes your understanding of the meaning of art.”
This year, the artwork was divided into seven categories: “Prison as Art Studio,” “Self,” “Portraiture,” “Critique,” “Natural Expression,” “Connection” and “What if?” Emily Chase, exhibitions and curatorial coordinator, said in an interview with The Daily that connection and imagination were central themes in every art piece. Chase also noted the challenges of displaying art of this nature in a traditional gallery.
“We’re hanging artwork in an institution that has a ton of power and money of artwork made by people whose power has been taken away by a huge, powerful institution,” Chase said. “So there’s these dynamics that we can’t get rid of and that I’m always aware of when we’re hanging this artwork. So that’s why the audio tour is so important — (it) is to try to bring in and highlight some artists’ voices in ways that we hope will enhance the viewer’s experience of the art.”
Michael Knol, an artist featured in the audio tour, created “Modular Origami Starburst,” featuring an intricate star design with interlocking green, yellow and white paper. In the audio tour recording, Knol said that he hoped by sharing his passion, he might inspire others to explore a creative art form.
“I firmly believe that every person should find some sort of creative outlet,” Knol said. “If me doing origami in some way, shape or form encourages someone else to practice origami or to find some sort of creative art to do, I would highly recommend it and if there’s anything that I could ever do for anyone, I would do what I could.”
Tony Williams, another artist in the audio tour, painted “Wrongfully Incarcerated Vet,” an acrylic work depicting an elderly man sitting in a dark prison cell. In the audio tour recording, he shared his personal experience of being wrongfully incarcerated, hoping to help others by sharing his emotional struggles and resilience through art.
“I have experiential knowledge of the emotions in the dark times and the struggles that we have to face going through being wrongfully incarcerated and taken away from our families,” Williams said. “Every one of my family members has died since I’ve been incarcerated. I’ve been down for just shy of 19 years. You know, maybe just one person out there will see that painting, and it will move them to maybe make a phone call to say, ‘Hey, can somebody check in with this?’”
The purpose of the exhibit was to encourage viewers to reflect on the experiences of incarcerated individuals. Glinksi emphasized how prison arts programs can lead to awareness and change.
“I just hope (the exhibition) drives a passion in people to see what other incarcerated artists are doing,” Glinski said. “There’s so many people inside whose voices aren’t heard. And that doesn’t just go for PCAP; it goes for so many different organizations. I work with people inside, and I would just urge people to continue to listen to incarcerated voices and be present and be grateful and hopefully take something away from the art as well. Art is a really powerful resource, and I hope that the exhibition can shed light on that.”
Daily Staff Reporter Ava Pustulka can be reached at apustulk@umich.edu.
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