PAINTING OURSELVES INTO SOCIETY

Safe communities use art and inclusion as a solution, not prisons!

September 21st, 2024 — January 12th, 2025

EXHIBITING ARTISTS:

Cedar Annenkovna, Corey Arthur, Mark A Cádiz, De’jon Joy, Jessie Milo, Joanna Nixon, Jared Owens, Alvin Smith

Curated by

Orlando Smith & Rahsaan Thomas

Empowerment Avenue and Berkeley Art Center co-present Painting Ourselves into Society. This exhibition is co-curated by Orlando Smith aka “O. Smith” from inside San Quentin Prison and Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, who has returned to society after 22 years inside. It features the works of eight currently and formerly incarcerated artists nationwide exploring what it means for incarcerated people to stay connected to the larger community and to challenge the idea of what healing looks like together. 

This exhibition was generously funded by the California Arts Council and City Picture Frame.

Public Programs

A Moment Missed: Connected through Loss

• Saturday October 12th 11:00 am - 2:00 pm.

• In-person at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut Street, Berkeley

We will explore through facilitated dialogue the shared experience of missing everyday moments in our lives, highlighting our universal desire for inclusion and connection to our community, regardless of our circumstances.

Building Beloved Communities Across Prison Walls

• Saturday Nov 2nd 11:00 am—3:00 pm.

• In-person at Berkeley Art Center, 1275 Walnut Street, Berkeley

We will explore through facilitated dialogue what it means to build beloved community among incarcerated culture bearers and local residents.

All programs will include calls from artists in prisons across the country.

Curatorial’s statement

"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth," — African Proverb

"A person is a person because of other people," — Rev. Desmond Tutu.

Empowerment Avenue asked incarcerated artists what does it mean to paint yourself into society? What does it look like to show that we are still part of the community? This prompt came after reflecting on, what unites our states? Poverty exacerbated by the exclusion of minorities from fair chances at economic opportunities, drug addiction, mental health issues, and the largest prison system in the world. Our prison system punishes the symptoms of society’s ills under the guise of public safety. We bear witness that prisons do not make us safer. Incarceration warehouses human beings in trauma, denies them voting rights, extracts slave labor, and keeps us separated from love ones, then releases people in the desperate circumstances of being branded by their crimes, strained relationships due to separation, being almost penniless despite decades of prison labor, and in most cases, without a home. Today we come together to overcome the limitations of the Prison Industrial Complex, by bringing the art and voices of incarcerated people right into our living room.

Painting Ourselves into Society prompts a unique group of marginalized artists who have pushed themselves to grow, gain emotional balance, and are using their art to overcome barriers of incarceration. They responded with impactful images that address climate change, voting rights, and the power of art to connect across prison walls. New York based artist COREY ARTHUR shows up positively in society by mailing his paintings to friends, “Breaking Through Barriers” of incarceration and helping to heal the world. Denver based Artist CEDAR ANNENKOVNA repurposes candy wrappers to frame her environmental fight from prison for our planet. San Quentin based artist JESSIE MILO, with his father and son contributions, reflects on the way incarceration impacts our children. Michigan based artist ALVIN SMITH’S piece from his Underprivileged Oasis collection is his way of seeing himself still in his community. California based artist JOANNA NIXON dazzles the modern art world with contemplation expressed in bright colors contrasting pain and the shared impacts of toxic pollution between the free world and prison. MARK A CáDIZ, another San Quentin based artist, uses acrylics to imagine the only formerly incarcerated president voting from prison against threats to the voting rights of disenfranchised people with felony convictions, absolute power and corruption. Famous paroled multidisciplinary artist JARED OWENS, of Marking Time and Art & Krimes, contributed prints of “Shadow Figures” moving as one across a maximum security prison yard echoing slavery and the way society today sees the physical bodies of individuals in the carceral state. Finally, central to the space is a living room installation designed by DE’JON JOY for community gathering, hosting loved ones, creating memories, and building relationships across prison walls.

As you sit in the living room bridging the space between society and prison populations, contemplate the ways we are all connected. Like our ecosystem, everyone matters. Our destruction or uplifting depend on each other. When we understand root causes of crime, we can understand why someone rejected by society might get a F-the World tattoo on their face and join a gang to meet their needs for food, shelter, safety, love, acceptance, and community. Today we have a chance to reverse engineer exclusion with inclusion and accept incarcerated people back into the fold of our love, building a safer, better ecosystem.