​BEYOND THE BARS 2023
Seeding Justice Art Exhibit

Curated by The Confined Arts

This art exhibit features art in the form of posters including artwork of formerly and currently incarcerated persons around the theme of this year’s conference Seeding Justice. We are grateful to be able to share work from directly impacted artists across the country.  Please stop by and experience art working in service of healing, justice and liberation.

​Seeding Justice

By Arfa Ajaz
A symbol of several significant moments in history and still significant today, the peace sign represents
calmness, feeling grounded, or rational thinking.The peace sign has been used as a symbol of
transformative power, reparative justice, and seeding justice. It is also an abstract and surrealist image
that has been used in art to explore the idea of inner peace. The black-eyed susan is a flower that is
often associated with the peace sign because it represents hope and healing. Others see the peace sign as a transformative symbol, representative of metamorphosis and change. This may be due to its resemblance to a butterfly, which is often seen as a symbol of transformation  thanks to its own metamorphosis from caterpillar to stunning insect. Whatever its meaning may be to each individual, there is no doubt that the peace sign remains an important symbol in our world today. 

In the Breath

By Arieana Castellanos

An indigenous person dreaming by blowing bubbles and creating visions of a better world. Abolition, decolonization, seed keeping, solidarity, love, and environmentalism.

Roots of Equity

By ​Ariel A. Kaminsky
This piece, entitled Roots of Equity illustrates an individual, pulling at the roots that keep him in the ground: he is able to free one foot from this oppression, but still remains tethered. Likewise, the piece represents the difficulty that justice-impacted individuals face freeing themselves from the heavy weight of our carceral system, which suppresses individuals and families, and keeps them subject to the intergenerational cycle of incarceration. 
This art was submitted on behalf of the artist by Art from the Inside, an organization that works with artists serving time in Minnesota State prisons. 

untitled 

By Amanda Peltier
When the judge handed me my sentence, every identity I had ever known of myself was torn to shreds. Many years into my incarceration, I realized that I am who I am. Nothing can change that; not my circumstances, my surroundings,or my role in existence.I am a strong, resilient, beautiful and intelligent woman, mother, daughter, sister and friend. No man, not judge nor jury, can take away what the Creator gave me. The sections of my torn identity, like the medicine wheel, represent my seasons of wisdom and understanding my perfectly imperfect self.

Foliage of Humanity

By Daniel Gonzales
Sometimes I see myself as a ghost trapped in a void without a voice. Even in my own mind, I am a prisoner because the self hate is my captor. Yes, my guilt eats me alive every day. Yet in my heart I am a fighter and the good there burns hot. I see myself as a brown man in prison who is just trying to survive another day to make it back home a better man than the boy who entered these prison walls at 18 years old. I hope my actions will showcase that last statement every day.

Flower Bloomed in a Dark Room

by Amani Fardan
I've been locked up for so long now that I don't think I have an identity that isn't prison related/associated. I've been behind walls longer than I was alive out there, and I'm only 32. I was gone before Facebook came out. MySpace was still hot. I don't wanna say I'm institutionalized because I'd never feel more comfortable/prefer to be in here than free out there, but everything I've learned since the age of 15 has been in here. I don't know how to do anything. I never got a chance to get my license, get a job, vote, pay any bills or taxes. I'm a ghost out there. I know what I'm not, though - I'm not this Menace II Society or monster that I was portrayed when I first came down as a kid. I'm still a person, and my life shouldn't be forfeited for my actions at an age when I wasn't allowed to do anything adult-related because I was immature, irresponsible, impulsive and all of the other traits associated with juveniles.

Healing

By Elsa Segura
I come from immigrant parents that uprooted their lives to give their daughters a better life. I grew up in the Phillips neighborhood in South Minneapolis where I was surrounded by a wide range of diverse backgrounds, cultures, foods and languages. At age 8, my sisters and I are taking turns translating for our mother at government offices, at doctor appointments, at school conferences, at the food shelf and evern conversations with neighbors. From an early age, a community center called Waite House helped to raise me. I would spend the majority of my time there. Waite House provided me with opportunities to be a leader, to be open minded, to obtain my first job at 13 years old, to fight for social justice issues, to beautify my community by cleaning it, gardening and painting murals. I went from the little girl playing at the park to traveling to other states and countries for service learning projects. I gained a passion for advocacy, change, equity, justice, 
human rights and the environment. My mother always expressed the importance of being independent, educated and financially stable. I was the first generation to graduate middle school, high school and to later graduate with a Master's Degree from Concordia University-St. Paul. I went on to have a career and accomplish many more personal goals. Throughout the years, I have overcome adversities through resilience. I believe that I have the power to create a purposeful and meaningful life. I focus my energy on my mindset of growth, nourishing my body and staying connected with God. I see myself as coming from humble beginnings that are deeply rooted in love, hope, faith and gratitude. I see myself as a free-spirited woman that is in tune with her mind, body and soul. I see myself as a confident, strong, intelligent and optimistic woman. And I want others to see that too.

Youth

J. Ives
Seeing the younger generation embracing and learning their culture inspires and invigorates me
I never felt that my art was expressive until recently when I started this pointillistic style. This style is so hypnotic to me that I can't explain how or why I've created these pieces. I amaze myself! At the most, I know it comes from my "heart" and not from my head. I read this old French phrase, "The heart has its reasons that reason knows nothing of ''. This is my identity. This is my "art".

Justice Rising

By Roberto Lopez-Rios
Man Made laws are subject to error and change. There must be balance in a justice system that reflects the morality of its people. Political gain, or personal agendas that ignore people's needs, lack the strength that comes in unity and sets the groundwork for failure and abuse of power. Therefore, every move made should be towards changing a biased system. The current system is not broken. It is working the way it was designed, which is unacceptable. Rise to the challenge.

Respira (Rigoberta Menchú Tum)

Eduardo Morales
Respira (Rigoberta Menchú Tum) by Eduardo Morales

Rigoberta Menchú was the inspiration for this piede. She is a Maya indigenous activist from Guatemala who advocates for indigenous farmers' rights, against oppressive government regimes, and is an advocate for Social Justice for Indigenous people of Latin America.
I am a man whose ethnicity is from Guatemala. I want to be seen in whatever manner every individual wants to see me without being conformed to a standardized way of perception. An aspect of my lived experiences that can inform of who I am and want to be is my drive to work hard and continue to look for positive ways in developing and refining who I am and the labor I give.

I Am Who I Say I Am

By Noella May
All my life I have questioned who I am and who I am expected to be. But I am breaking free from what has been pressured on me. I am living and drawing my truth. I see myself as a resilient woman, who forgives in a world that is very unforgiving.

Only You 

By Roberto Lopez-Rios

Inspired by the journey we all must walk. Life hands us unexpected turns to learn from, yet most of us find ourselves trapped and tangled. We must learn from our struggles how to free ourselves. Only you can set yourself free to fulfill your destiny of infinite possibilities.

​FORTUNE society_FAIR-CHANCE_POSTERS

​POSTER BY Geo

​Poster BY ​BECKY JANE DUNHAM ​

JUSTICIA Y LIBERTAD

By Belen Enriquez

Restoring the Fabri

By Brielle Mariucci
How does the way we relate to ourselves, and each other mirror the way we exist within systems? I envision a universe where our systems of care and democracy were built on actual care, and not violence. I envision a world where self love is more accessible than self hatred, where we know how to communicate with each other in times of misunderstanding, where when harm is committed, that we have the flexible infrastructure to restore connection, where we collectively feel a true sense of responsibility to maintain the social fabric that carries us, without the fear of falling through its loose weave. This drives me to seek how tools and frameworks of Transformative Justice may scale to mend the wounds of an unraveling whole, and contribute to change and restoration.

don't go

By Bryanna Fuentes

RUIN PRISONS

By Chance Gray
This poster invited viewers to imagine a world in which prisons are literally ruined.

Untitled

​BY ​DANIEL MALAK

Honoring Indigenous People Treaties

By Dennis RedMoon Darkeem 
The 13th Annual Beyond the Bars Conference of the Center for Justice at Columbia University 2023 is bringing together people, organizations and movements working on indigenous peacemaking, and restorative, transformative, healing and reparative justice to develop solidarity, share analysis, exchange strategies and practices, and together build power to create the world we need. There is more interest in these approaches than ever before yet relatively limited opportunities to learn, connect and grow about them. BTB 2023 will be an opportunity to learn about how people and communities are taking up these approaches in their own communities, about the tensions and possibilities of working in relationship to systems, and to build connections between and among those already doing this work.

Territorial "Tlaxihuiqui" Album Poster (2021)

By Fury Young
Tlaxihuiqui is the groundbreaking debut album from an incarcerated band in Colorado -- Territorial. The album title translates into "The Calling of the Spirits" in the Uto-Aztecan dialect of Nahuatl. Traditional chants of this ancient language anchor the album and stand as a rousing cry for our shared humanity. The Tonallis on the lower half of the artwork represent each bandmember's Day of Destiny.
Including several lifers, Native American and Black artists, a queer Jewish man, and a white musician convicted for five counts of murder, the musicians of Territorial share their path from remorse to redemption on "Tlaxihuiqui." Through this musical journey, we discover there is much more than meets the eye behind a criminal conviction and a prison ID number.

Blacklives matter_woman with fist

By Hector Rodriguez

cuckooza

By Hector Rodriguez

freedom fighters

 By Hector Rodriguez

get out the box of

 By Hector Rodriguez​

strip room

 By Hector Rodriguez​

The abolishers

 By Hector Rodriguez​

Friends

By Jebediah Dishman

​HowardFamily

By Alphonso Howard
“My name is Alphonso, a student artist on a mission.  It’s my endeavour to share this journey of expressed freedom with you honouring the life, the strengths and the struggles of my African-American heritage. With no formal training throughout the evolution of my art, it’s become more than just a hobby for me. It became a lifesaver, a medium through which I can express that zest for life that is so innate in us all.  Even though I’ve been incarcerated now for many years, I maintain that hope filled dream of freedom through the rare and beautiful symphony of my artistic expression. From my heart to yours. Enjoy.”

IndianBW

By Joe Avila​​
When asked why he started to make art, Joe said:  “I started drawing as a means to pass time while in my cell, but now I do it to pay off a court imposed fine when I am able to sell my work”. Joe enjoys creating cultural drawings of Native Americans and uses several different techniques including collage, acrylic paint and ink stippling. He also does portraits from photographs using the ink stippling method. One piece of artwork can take several weeks because of the meticulous detail.  Joe says of his art that it is not as good as he would like it to be, but he feels it is decent and enjoyable to look at. He says it is therapy for the mind while locked in a cell. Creating art has given Joe a lot more patience than he ever had. When asked what art is to him, Joe said “it is a peaceful mind, imagination and culture.”

The Hidden Killer Within Us - Madness

By John Zenc

self - portrait 

By Juan Hernandez
Due to my incarceration status, I am in a unique position as an artist. My access to outside resources and communication is limited, and I have never received formal training inside or prior to incarceration. I began creating portraits as a way to pass the time and earn money outside of the prison’s exploitative practices (in my facility, incarcerated workers are paid $20/month), but quickly learned of art’s healing and liberatory capabilities.

In my larger creative practice, I look to the work of the late Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs, who visited Stateville Correctional Center every week so myself and other incarcerated folks could have access to an artistic space. Her dedication, patience, and humility gave me a new way to express myself and inspired me to mentor younger artists inside.

“Rebirth Through the Sun’s Rays”

​By Keisha LaRoux​
A visual representation of the pain and suffering endured for personal growth.

​BTB-POSTER-WEARE

By Laura Ceron Melo

By Jahvon Goodwin

This piece of art in the original and cropped versions are being submitted to you by Jahvon Goodwin who is incarcerated at Old Colony Correctional Center in MA. Depending on how the poster will be used you may want a few words like “It’s Time” or “Still Waiting” but the sentiment is “Growing Justice Against All Odds.” 

Epoch

By Amy Osika
​I chose to name this piece Epoch for the period of development when the cultivation of squash became widespread among the indigenous civilizations of the northern continent. I was introduced to this period as "the Squash Epoch." and it has always served as a reminder that it is from knowledge of the land and its people that leads communities to flourish. Incarceration's nature is to severe people from the land and the communities they grow from. But I don't believe that organic creatures can ever be truly severed from our origins. It's our drive to renew those connections between our isolated elements that leads us to new epochs.  As they say, resistance must grow from the ground up, right through the concrete.

community mural
​syep 2022

Another Choice Youth and Family Outreach

Untitled, but black

Rev. Isaac I. Scott

Rest In power

By​ Aleria Sarra