SPECIAL SERIES:
This is the first a series of Art In Your Inbox editions developed in collaboration with the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP).

click image to enlarge
Full Service?
Artwork Title: False Narrative
Artist: Alvin Smith
2019, acrylic, dimensions: 31.5in x 42.5 in
Artist statement
“When I’m moved to create a piece, I find that listening to that inner voice always leads to something creative, fun, and sometimes challenging for viewers. But I’m always true to my own vision.” - Alvin Smith
Smith, who is currently incarcerated, has been a practicing artist for many years. As a boy, his father encouraged him to be creative, tinkering with bicycle parts and other ordinary things to come up with personalized objects. His father’s help inspired him to mentor young men in prison. His own body of work is varied, and he often calls attention to the history of structural racism in the United States, using inventive metaphors and images from popular culture, presented from his unique point of view.

Reflection Prompts:
  • How does Smith play with the unexpected, leaving the viewer to question what they’re seeing in the painting?
  • What narratives about present-day American racism does Smith seem to be responding to and critiquing?
2010, John Bone, Cell Scene, graphite, PCAP, artist provided
“What We Can Learn About Isolation From Prison Artists”

A recent article in The Conversation by PCAP curator Janie Paul explores how incarcerated artists provide a model “to those of us living with stress and frustration during COVID-19 restrictions” as “these artists demonstrate how to develop an inner space of freedom – and how to live imaginatively and purposefully in a strange new world.”
Living on L.O.P.

This video series, jointly created by PCAP and U-M’s Carceral State Project, focuses on formerly incarcerated people teaching how to deal with challenging conditions, such as isolation, during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
“Voting in Jails: Strategies to Expand Democracy”

A recent video from The Sentencing Project explores the connection between various types of confinement, such as individuals quarantining due to COVID-19 and people being held in local jails, and the impact such measures have on democracy and individuals’ ability to vote. 
About PCAP
The Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP) brings those impacted by the justice system and the University of Michigan community into artistic collaboration for mutual learning and growth. Founded in 1990 with a single theatre workshop, PCAP has grown to include undergraduate courses, weekly creative arts workshops, exhibitions, publications, and events that reach thousands of individuals each year. PCAP's most visible program, the Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan Prisoners, is the largest curated exhibition of incarcerated artists in the world and features pieces created by artists in every correctional facility in the state. The Annual Exhibition is generously sponsored by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and Om of Medicine.
Art In Your Inbox Contributors:
  • Olivia Ordonez, PhD Candidate in English Language and Literature and Rackham Public Engagement Fellow at UMMA;
  • Nora Krinitsky, Lecturer in the Residential College and Interim Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project; and
  • Janie Paul, painter and community-based artist, Professor Emerita, Stamps School of Art and Design and School of Social Work, and Senior Curator, Prison Creative Arts Project.
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