American Made: Mass Production | Mass Incarceration explores the role of creativity and art in the prison system. An example from the exhibition includes photographs and texts by Robert Gumpert, photographer, and Sandra Cate, sociologist. Gumpert documents meals that inmates have concocted out of their limited ingredients. The images capture a creative cooking process that entertains the inmates. The photographs are paired with Cate’s texts, which are created from interviews with inmates. The texts recount on their cooking or baking experience in prison, and have a light, friendly tone to accompany the playful quality in the photographs.
Not every piece captures a positive meaning in response to creativity. The works by former inmate, Angelo, illustrate how inmates react to the harsh conditions they live within the prison system. Angelo was in prison for twenty years before his release in 2014. His works date from 2001-2006, and are reproductions of highly rendered ink drawings. The imagery is accompanied with text depicting his experience in prison. Angelo documents everything, from what he saw, smelled, created, as well as the prison’s needs.
