Art from the inside

An essay concerning prison art by Dave Griffith

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I asked Carlos to give some advice to young artists.

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This two-part mixed media piece, "Crab," made by a group of Portuguese inmates, depicts the anxiety and despair of entering prison, and the joy of leaving. It was one the most moving pieces in the whole exhibition.

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Outlaw, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, covering the 1972 presidential election for Rolling Stone wrote that Nixon legal counsel Chuck Colson "...should be tied by his testicles behind an Olds 88 and dragged down Pennsylvania Avenue.” (Photo by Annie Liebowitz)

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The eggs and the icon were made by women prisoners in the Ukraine. I bought the icon for my wife. It sits on the windowsill in the kitchen. I stare hard at it every time I wash my hands.

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The display case held faberge-style eggs and icons made by women prisoners in the Ukraine. It glowed with this ethereal light.

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Jim and Shirley Cavanaugh. Shirley was a nurse in the hospital where Jim was treated for the aneurysm that paralyzed his legs. When Jim was released from prison, he wondered "who could love a paralyzed ex-con?" (Note that Shirley's father was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.)

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Excerpts from the Nixon Enemy list, compiled by Chuck Colson. (Note that Paul Newman comes in at number 19 on the list.)

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Chuck Colson's mug shot. In 1974, Colson he was indicted for obstruction of justice in connection with the Watergate cover-up and spent seven months in prison. While in prison he read C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity and became born again. Shortly after being released from prison, he founded Prison Fellowship International, a Christian organization whose aim is to break cycles of violence and crime by ministering to prisoners and their victims. (see Restorative Justice)

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Captured to Run No More, a memoir by Jim Cavanaugh, detailing his path to a thirty-year prison sentence.

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Jim Cavanaugh, author of the prison memoir Captured to Run No More. It took Jim twenty years to write the book. Every time he sat down to write, the memories of his incarceration overwhelmed him. Jim gave me six copies. "Give them to you students," he said.

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Terry Southwind, self-portrait in pencil. While in solitary confinement, Southwind sketched a portrait of Jim Cavanaugh from his mug shot photo.

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Ball point pen portrait of Jim Cavanaugh by Terry Southwind. Southwind drew this from a copy of Cavanaugh's mugshot while in solitary confinement.

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Hans Prinzhorn, German psychiatrist and aesthetician. Author of Artistry of the mentally ill: a contribution to the psychology and psychopathology of configuration (1922) and Artistry of Convicts (1926).

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I arrived at the conference registration window well before they were open and sat reading a stack of handouts I found on an info table about how restorative justice can break cycles of violence. The guiding principles of restorative justice are: [1] Crime is an offense against human relationships. [2] Victims and the community are central to justice processes. [3] The first priority of justice processes is to assist victims. [4] The second priority is to restore the community, to the degree possible. [5] The offender has personal responsibility to victims and to the community for crimes committed. [6] Stakeholders share responsibilities for restorative justice through partnerships for action. [7] The offender will develop improved competency and understanding as a result of the restorative justice experience. --source: The National Institute of Justice

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Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein (1905-6) Stein wrote of the painting: "For me, it is I, and it is the only reproduction of me which is always I, for me." I was reminded of this painting because of the all the references to masks in the work of Kazimierz Pawlowski, one of the formerly incarcerated artists who exhibited work in PFI's International Prison Art Exhibition.

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Carlos Velasquez poses with his sculpture that was broken open by customs because they suspected in was being used to smuggle narcotics. As a young man, Velasquez served jail time for cocaine trafficking. While in jail he received a vision from God that he should become an artist. Now he makes his living on art commissions and travels the world ministering to inmates.