New Exhibit for a New Year
Art, dance, 11 new stories and a comic
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Happy New Year! We have been reflecting on the many accomplishments of writers and artists in this community, all achieved against outstanding odds. And we are gearing up for another year of support, writing, art, creative resistance and facilitating life-changing relationships across prison walls.
As a continuation of our 2023 MoAD exhibit The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison Through Art and Poetry, we are excited to launch its second iteration at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, in San Francisco. Curated from within prison, co-curators Tomiekia Johnson and Chantell-Jeannette Black asked eight currently and formerly incarcerated artists to reflect on their relationship to their bed — resulting in murals, paintings, audio narratives, and an immersive prison room installation. The work will be paired with If I Give You My Sorrows, an apparatus-based dance performance by Flyaway Productions exploring similar themes. Ticketing details will be announced soon on YBCA’s website.
A few more things of note: We are in our final weeks of Painting Ourselves Into Society at Berkeley Art Center; you can watch the Censored by Prisons, Censored by TedX* event that we participated in in December, and check out this cool new resource from our ongoing project A Stamp Costs Five Hours: Cultural Production and Compensation in Prison.
And of course, writers ended the year on powerful stories about the holidays, Palestine, climate change, and what it looks like when you make friends with a raven from prison. Oh yeah, and another byline in the New York Times! Congrats Chris!
Our Latest Work
For our book review partnership with Study + Struggle1, in which incarcerated writers review radical/leftist books, Mike Ray reviews Palestine: A Socialist Introduction. "That the essays were written before October 7th is actually one of their strengths."
For The Appeal2, Christopher Blackwell and Antoine Davis write about a man who spent 15 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. He was finally freed last month—but will those responsible for caging him be held accountable?
And Christopher Blackwell is back in The New York Times3 as part of a series about regret. "Picking up that gun is the single biggest regret of my life — one that I will have to live with forever — but years passed before I was able to truly understand the gravity of my actions."
A first for Empowerment Avenue! Christopher Blackwell's story about his raven friend Chubbs appears as a COMIC in the fall/winter issue of Jewish Currents4.
Two stories to check out from Felix Sitthivong, who is a monthly contributor to the International Examiner newspaper5. The first is about the meaning behind family and community events held at the prison and paired with a wonderful photo. The second story is about spending the holidays in prison, the importance of love, and sending love to people spending the holidays in solitary confinement.
Another one for the holidays: E. Paris Whitfield’s essay for Truthout6 is about the loss of homemade packages in New York prisons. "My mother used to send taffy to brighten life behind bars. Facing the holidays is grim under New York’s new rules."
Steve Brooks from San Quentin for Local News Matters7: "After a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California on Thursday, an emergency alert went out telling the public to get to high ground. But incarcerated individuals weren’t told what to do."
Also for Local News Matters, Steve Brooks talks with members of the prison community about the holidays past, present, and future. You can listen here.
From New York, Robert Lee Williams writes for Plough Quarterly8 about a mystery man playing trumpet at his prison. "Currently serving a sentence of forty years to life, the sixty-five-year-old trumpeter has been playing for more than thirty years."
Kwaneta Harris wraps the year with a powerful essay for Solitary Watch9 about her transition out of eight years in solitary confinement. (Advocacy from this very community helped get Kwaneta out of solitary last year.) Solitary Watch has also announced Kwaneta as its newest contributing writer!
Artist Spotlight: Christopher “Khalifah” Christensen
In this final month of 2024 we are proud to highlight Christopher “Khalifah” Christensen who won this year’s Sheridan Prize for Art with his piece, Regretlyss Visions of Self-discovery! This groundbreaking regional prize celebrates artists impacted by the carceral system in the Bay Area. Keep an eye on their website for an essay written about Khalifah’s winning artwork.
This print is part of a series Khalifah is working on inspired by the YouTube influencer Regretlyss. Her videos chronicle her 5 year journey of self-discovery in her trusty converted school bus with her dog as her companion. Khalifah says, “They are a huge inspiration to me. Her poetry, videography, and personal insights reveal a wise woman who is embracing self-love as a necessity rather than a luxury. My own personal journey, as a man in prison since the age of 19, is reflected to me in this woman's very public diary.”
But that’s not all! Two more EA artists received Honorable Mentions from Sheridan Prize for Art: Bridge to Freedom, 2023 by Jeff Isom, and The Deadly Pact, 2025 by Orlando Smith.
We’re so proud of these talented artists for using their creativity to share powerful stories of resilience and transformation.
Inside/Outside Insights
ICYMI: Great interview with Discourse Blog and our colleague Lyle May about censorship in prison and our TedX* Zoom event last month.
LISTEN: Antoine Davis wrote about fantasy football in prison for Defector in 2024, and was interviewed about the story on KUOW. Check it out here.
AWARDS: Congrats to both Demetrius Buckley and April Harris, who are winners in the Transformative Justice Calendar Contest. Their work will be showcased here, by the Darkness Rising Project.
MORE KUDOS: Antoine E. Davis’s essay “The Hidden Obstacles of Parenting from Prison” was selected as a best of 2024 for Merion West.
OPPORTUNITY ALERT: Freedom Meridian is a new vertical under Apogee Journal for system-impacted writers. It's supported by two incarcerated editors, Demetrius Buckley and Paris Whitfield, who are also part of our community. Read Freedom Meridian's open letter about the project.
SHOUT OUT: Prison Policy highlighted some of the year's best reporting on incarceration, and offered tips for journalists interested in pursuing similar stories in their states, featuring reporting by EA writers Sara Kielly and Christopher Blackwell!
IN THE NEWS: Huge thanks to The Nation for covering our work in the story titled, “Prison Journalism Is Having a Renaissance. Rahsaan Thomas Is One Of Its Champions.”
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Study + Struggle is publishing book reviews written by, edited by, and designed for incarcerated folks. They pay $200 per review.
The Appeal covers criminal justice issues from a progressive lens and pays $1/word.
The New York Times Opinion section is open to submissions from incarcerated writers. Unlike many op-ed sections, they pay the contributing writers.
Jewish Currents is a progressive, secular Jewish quarterly magazine and news site.
International Examiner is the oldest and largest nonprofit, pan-Asian Pacific American publication in the Northwest. They pay $100 for an opinion piece.
Truthout is a nonprofit news source publishing on a wide range of social justice issues. They pay around $300-$375 for essays.
Local News Matters is a nonprofit site bringing community coverage to the San Francisco Bay Area region so that the people, places and topics that deserve more attention get it.
Founded in 1920, Plough is an independent publisher affiliated with the Bruderhof, an international Christian community movement.
Solitary Watch is the premier source of news and information on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. They pay $250 for essays.