This postcard is part of and ongoing project called 'Postcards from Prison,' a collaboration between artist Mark Strandquist and Prison Health News. Their goal is to get prisoners across the United States to use postcards to answer the following question, "If you could create a window in the prison walls, what would you want the world to see?"
Mark Strandquist: There's an amazing quote from Angela Davis that I include every time I present my work:
To me, she provides such a powerful call to action. [The question is not just] how collaborative projects with incarcerated men, women, and teens can bring their voices, struggles, and dreams into the public spaces that typically silence or exclude them—but, importantly, how those exhibits, performances, or publications can create stages for bringing hundreds, sometimes thousands of people together, to engage, question, and attempt to transform the very social structures that are leading to such high rates of incarceration.Art, like any fiction, is an amazing space to reimagine and perform a more just society. All politics are performance art, it's just typically a stage that excludes those individuals most impacted by the criminal justice system.The prison… functions ideologically as an abstract site into which undesirables are deposited, relieving us of the responsibility of thinking about the real issues afflicting those communities from which prisoners are drawn in such disproportionate numbers… It relieves us of the responsibility of seriously engaging with the problems of our society.
The People's Paper Co-op (PPC) has worked with hundreds of individuals across Philadelphia to produce a giant paper quit of pulped criminal records, polaroid portraits, and community reflections. Every month the PPC partners with the Philadelphia Lawyers for Social Equity (PLSE) to organize and facilitate free legal clinics in Philadelphia. In each clinic, participants work with lawyers to clear or clean up their criminal records. Participants then print out their records, tear them up, and put them in blenders to create new blank sheets of handmade paper.
Most of my work is centered around the idea that the people most impacted by any issue (in this case incarcerated men and women) are the very experts that society needs to listen to. Postcards from Prison began with that concept in mind. If we looked to incarcerated men and women as photojournalists what "images" would they create? What windows into their experience would they want to share with the world? Working with PHN we sent thousands of blank postcards to incarcerated men and women across the US. The postcards move in a multitude of ways: from deeply personal narratives of isolation, to resilience and self-determination in the face of extreme obstacles, to complex criticism of the criminal justice system, to regrets, forgiveness, self-love, and self-blame. At its core the project is about creating moments for listening and learning. Something that I believe many photos of prisoners fail to do. Something that is so important for our society to truly reimagine this system.
I often ask people at our exhibitions or public talks, "What is the first image that comes to mind when you hear the word prison, or prisoner?" All over the country I hear the same responses: orange jumpsuits, hands on bars, jail cells, concrete… People have seen so many of the same images in film, on nightly news, in music, books, and throughout our mediated culture. Collectively they've manifested what I believe is a very limited understanding of the actual human beings, the actual experience of incarcerated, let alone the struggles, inequalities, trauma, and structural violence that occurs in the communities that so many prisoners come from.Children across the US are surviving childhood, not experiencing it. That's a radically important distinction to make. During a workshop with incarcerated youth in Virginia I was once told, "If you believed you would be dead or in prison by 21, what would you do? How would you act?"It's so important that prisoners are creating their own media. It's a huge first step, we need to transform the narratives that have helped shaped the very policies that have led us to this crisis.
In the ongoing project 'Windows from Prison,' images requested by prisoners are collaboratively produced by students, former prisoners, artists, activists, and many others. Once the images are produced and given to the corresponding prisoners, the images are blown up on banners and publicly exhibited to spark dialogue and action around criminal justice issues.
Our project began with the questions, "How would criminal justice reform differ if it was led by incarcerated teens? How could socially engaged artists, educators, and Virginia's leading policy advocates support and ensure the success of their vision for a more just society?"
Self-portraits created by an incarcerated youth in the Performing Statistics project. These images have been printed on 12-foot wide banners for public installations where they will be seen in schools, governmental buildings, museums, and public events, including a parade on November 6, where they'll be marched down Richmond's main avenue. To hear a poem written by this teen, call 804-234-3698, extension #2
To hear a poem written by this teen, call 804-234-3698, extension #4
Self-portrait from Performing Statistics Project. To hear a poem written by this teen, call 804-234-3698 extension #5
I think the quickest way to understanding criminal justice issues is to spend any amount of time with those directly impacted. Thankfully there are so many programs, services, and organizations across the US that are working directly with incarcerated individuals, their families, and returning citizens. I can't think of a better place to start than to open your ears and hearts in your own community. Get involved in these programs and find your niche. Whether you're an artist, lawyer, educator, counselor, teacher, police officer, activist—anything—there's an important and needed place for you.My role as a cultural organizer is like a dinner host. I gather a multitude of people together and help nurture the relationships from these rare and important connections in hopes of having lasting impacts on individuals, audiences, and policy decisions. But it's largely out of my control, which is important. There's so many people that, through the deeply collaborative process, make the work their own. It not only makes the work possible but is sustainable. Art can create the stage for people to see their own potential and place within society. We all have amazing power, how we use it is what's important.
