Tag: prisons

Incarcerated women and Voices on the Inside.

A new exhibit is being readied at the San Diego Central Library. Voices on the Inside presents the written words of women who’ve been incarcerated.

The exhibit is created by Poetic Justice, an organization that provides writing workshops for women serving time in prisons and jails, including the Las Colinas Detention Facility in San Diego.

As their website explains: Poetic Justice’s in-person writing workshops are typically offered for 6-10 week sessions…the participants explore therapeutic writing prompts and community building activities. At the end of a session, the participants graduate and receive an anthology of their writing and a graduation certificate.

Many of the women share their innermost thoughts, filled with humanity and new wisdom and hope that otherwise might be ignored or dismissed. The exhibit will be filled with examples of what they’ve written.

The opening reception for Voices on the Inside will be held at San Diego Central Library on Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 2 pm. Learn more by visiting the Instagram page @capoeticjustice.

To see this new exhibit, simply walk into the Central Library and turn right when you reach the main elevators. Many faces and words await you.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter)!

Coronado exhibit: Vietnam POWs fifty years later.

Tomorrow, March 29th, 2023, marks an important anniversary. Fifty years ago United States troops completed their departure from Vietnam, and the last group of prisoners of war were freed.

A powerful exhibit at the Coronado Historical Association museum remembers the POWs who returned to freedom, and tells their moving stories. It’s titled Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Fifty Years of Freedom.

I wandered about the museum today and tried to imagine the horror. Displays recalled how prisoners of war in Vietnam suffered. It had been a struggle to merely survive.

I then gazed at portraits of freed POWs and read the accompanying profiles. I saw how differently each man adjusted to life after their experience.

Many successfully returned to a more “normal” life. Many, having risen out of hell, experienced a strengthened sense of purpose.

As the exhibition description states: Open Doors is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of human will, it is also a celebration of that second chance at freedom.

This same exhibit originally debuted in Coronado 20 years ago. Today, after traveling around the nation, it has returned.

Visitors are reminded that we all have the capacity for extraordinary strength.

…

Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Art captures memories of San Quentin inmates.

Spaces from Yesterday is a collaborative exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery featuring the art projects of three San Quentin inmates.
Spaces from Yesterday is a collaborative exhibition at the SDSU Downtown Gallery featuring the art projects of three San Quentin inmates. (Click image to enlarge for easier reading.)

There’s a fascinating exhibition right now at the SDSU Downtown Gallery. It’s titled Spaces from Yesterday and features the artwork of three San Quentin inmates.

The artwork was created in collaboration with San Quentin State Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho, who also has a few related pieces in the exhibition. But the work that I found most interesting came directly from the hands of the inmates.

All three of the artists summon happy memories from their childhood. These images are warm, but also hard-edged and unpeopled. One work, The Hallway by Dennis Crookes, almost looks like a long, harsh, narrow prison hallway that finally leads to a home’s light-filled kitchen.

I could find no explanation why these three were incarcerated in the San Quentin correctional complex, which contains California’s only death row for male inmates. That would seem to be an essential part of the story, and might explain certain qualities of the art. But the anecdotes that are written do reveal a common yearning for a past life that is fondly remembered.

The following photos show a description of each piece, followed by the actual artwork.

Spaces from Yesterday will be on display through January 28, 2018. Those interested in art, creativity, and often hidden aspects of human life should check it out. Admission to the SDSU Downtown Gallery is free.

Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho and Dennis Crookes began planning The Hallway collaboration while Crookes was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.
Prison art teacher Amy M. Ho and Dennis Crookes began planning The Hallway collaboration while Crookes was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison.

The Hallway, Dennis Crookes, acrylic on canvas, 2016.
The Hallway, Dennis Crookes, acrylic on canvas, 2016.

The Garage, a collaboration with inmate Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., contains warm memories from a playful childhood.
The Garage, a collaboration with inmate Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., contains warm memories from a playful childhood.

The Garage, Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., mixed media on cardboard, 2016.
The Garage, Bobby Dean Evans, Jr., mixed media on cardboard, 2016.

Chanthon Bun painted memories from a childhood that included a play fort in an abandoned lot, comic books, baseball cards and a fish pond he created with his siblings and young relatives.
Chanthon Bun painted memories from a childhood that included a play fort in an abandoned lot, comic books, baseball cards and a fish pond he created with his siblings and young relatives.

The Last Summer, Chanthon Bun, acrylic on canvas, 2017.
The Last Summer, Chanthon Bun, acrylic on canvas, 2017.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

To read a few stories I’ve written, click Short Stories by Richard.