Painting Ourselves into Society is back!
Plus 13 new stories for The Appeal, Solitary Watch, Open Campus, Inquest, and more
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It’s been a busy start to the year for Empowerment Avenue art exhibitions. After so much community support and engagement at the Berkeley Art Center, Painting Ourselves into Society is back—this time at Manna Gallery in Oakland! We’re bringing back some of the original artworks and introducing powerful new pieces from Orlando "O.Smith" Smith and Jessie Milo, who are currently housed at San Quentin State Prison. Other participating artists: Mark A. Cádiz, Alvin Smith, Corey Devon Arthur, Joanna Nixon, Cedar Annekovna, and Jared Owens.
Curated by EA artivist O. Smith and our Executive Director Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, this exhibition actively challenges the traditional view that incarcerated individuals are somehow separate from the broader community. We invited the artists to respond to the prompt: What does it mean to paint yourself into society? What does it look like to show that we are still part of the community? Through their artwork, they illustrate how society can thrive when inclusion is embraced as a fundamental value and a guiding principle for achieving holistic justice.
Come through, experience the art, and be part of the conversation:
O.Smith and Friends: Painting Ourselves into Society
Where: Manna Gallery, 473 25th Street, Oakland, CA
When: Opening Reception: This Saturday March 8, 2-4 PM
Exhibition Dates: March 1 - April 12, 2025
Open First Fridays: March 7 & April 4, 5-8 pm
Gallery Hours: Saturdays, 12-5 pm & First Fridays, 5-8 pm
The Only Door I Can Open: Women Exposing Prison Through Art continues at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) through June 22nd, so please go check out this powerful exhibition. We’re in the process of planning three public programs, keep an eye on our website for details—we’d love to see some of you there!
This month, writers and journalists were productive as ever. They reported breaking news, penned personal essays, and shared reflections on Black History Month. As always, thank you for reading and uplifting their stories. See you in April!
Our Latest Work
For The Appeal1, Christopher Blackwell wrote about watching snowfall from his cell. “"I sat there, mesmerized by the falling snow, watching it blanket the grass and concrete outside my cell window. I could feel the draft of the cold winter air through the small opening in the window."
Christopher Blackwell also spoke with fellow incarcerated folks for The Appeal about wanting more from the Democratic Party. “My conversations convinced me that if we want to prevent someone like Trump from taking office, we must play offense, not defense."
For The Barbed Wire2, Kwaneta Harris writes about contraband makeup in prison—glitter, blush, eyeliner—which can result in disciplinary infractions and even parole denial. Still, wearing it is a “declaration of independence," she writes.
Being moved to “Medium Custody” feels “like gaslighting, telling us we’re more free while finding new ways to emulate solitary confinement,” writes Kwaneta Harris for Solitary Watch3.
"They ban books by Black authors. Then they tell us to celebrate Black History Month,” Kwaneta Harris writes in a first-person essay for Open Campus4.
In our latest installment with Spectre Journal5, PM Dunne grapples with the results of the 2024 US Elections. “Levonte’s pain, D-Lo’s ignorance, and Sammy’s resignation speak to the general hopelessness of the people. The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing.”
For Inquest6, Catherine LaFleur writes that abstinence-only drug treatment doesn’t work. For people in prison, where drugs flow freely, such programs place them at greater risk of relapse.
A new state law requires California to maintain oversight of all publications banned in state prisons, reports Steve Brooks for Bay City News + SFGate7. Most books that are banned seem to be disproportionately written by Black and Latino authors and activists, he reports.
As the politics around America's death penalty flip flop, Timothy Young argues for Truthout8 from death row that California should set an example and fully abolish it. “In California, confusing law changes and public misinformation have muddied progress.”
As correctional offices remained on strike, Sara Kielly co-reported breaking news from Bedford Hills Prison, with Chris Gelardi, for New York Focus9. Conditions for incarcerated people grew more dire as the days went on.
For Prison Writers10, Jeremy Busby writes about bringing Trapboy Freddy into his Texas prison for a performance. "Trapboy Freddy would be by far the biggest hip hop star to perform at a Texas prison. I was determined to make it happen!"
Juan Moreno Haines, EIC of Solitary Watch, wrote about Black History Month and shared a poetry reading from Knowledge Supreme Mind Jackson. “Black history has always been American history,” he concludes.
Also for Solitary Watch: Lanae Tipton shares about the toll of isolation, and two preventable suicides in a Texas women’s prison. “Isolation alone takes a serious toll on our minds, but isolation in a barren cell has proven to be devastating.”
Artist Spotlight: Chantell Black
This month we want to shine a light on artist and curator Chantell Black. We’ve worked with Chantell to co-curate The Only Door I Can Open over the course of several years to create 2 iterations of this project through countless letters, sketches and phone calls. For this most recent installation at YBCA Chantell was a key collaborator helping the team to translate the experience of living inside a prison room at Central California Women’s Facility at Chowchilla—creating a powerful experience for visitors.
Using her artistic talents, Chantell also contributed Letter to my Bed, a decorated sheet from prison conveying her gratitude to her bed. In her own words, an excerpt from her poem
“ I am utmost grateful for the illusion of privacy that you provide when I hang my sheet across your line. You have been my only resource for healing the abundance of scars within and without. It is only here where I can close my eyes and be the mother I was meant to be.”
This image showcases the realization of Chantell’s vision for her art installation.
Inside/Outside Insights
WATCH: The documentary “Friendly Signs” is available for streaming now. It was filmed while Rahsaan “New York” Thomas was incarcerated. Empowerment Avenue Society supported the impact tour for the documentary.
CONGRATULATIONS: Inquest is being recognized in a big way—as a finalist for the National Magazine Awards in the General Excellence—for platforming the work of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated writers! It has been an honor to work with the publication since its launch.
LISTEN: This month, Demetrius Buckley read his poem “The We” for Rattle Lit Journal. If you missed it, you can listen to the audio recording.
SUBSTACK: Follow Kwaneta Harris at her newly launched newsletter,
: Raw Dispatches from Texas Women's Prison. The first dispatch is about "prison love and the art of escape."
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The Appeal covers criminal justice issues from a progressive lens and pays $1/word.
The Barbed Wire is a next-generation digital media property for all Texans who love Texas. Rates range from $500/piece on essays and low-lift stories to $1/word on original reporting.
Solitary Watch is the premier source of news and information on solitary confinement in U.S. prisons and jails. They pay $250 for essays.
Open Campus Media is a nonprofit news organization covering higher education across the country.
Spectre Journal is a new Marxist journal that understands anti-oppression struggles as constitutive of class struggle. They’re paying $50 per essay.
Inquest is a forum for advancing bold ideas to end mass incarceration in the United States. They pay $250 per essay.
SFGate is an American news website based in San Francisco, California, covering news, culture, travel, food, politics, and sports
Truthout is a nonprofit news source publishing on a wide range of social justice issues. They pay around $300-$375 for essays.
New York Focus is “adversarial news” holding politicians and powerbrokers accountable.
Prison Writers is a nonprofit organization that advocates for prison reform through sharing true stories by incarcerated writers.