John Jay College of Criminal Justice CUNY (university where I teach), is hosting a wonderful exhibit in their new art gallery called “Prisoner Art For Social Justice”. The exhibit comes from an organization called art for justice, that encourages prisoners to create art as well as promote ways to prevent crime and improve the criminal justice system.
The quality of the art is amazing and creative–some artists even used toothpaste while others used coffee in their work. The artists are men, black and brown. Some are doing life in prison while others will one day be released, but all of them have found healing, expression, and their gift through art.
The exhibit will run until October 19, 2012. The hours are Mon-Friday 1-5pm. Below are a few pictures that I took at the opening reception.
Jeremy Travis is the president of John Jay but also the author of an awesome text on invisible punishments.