Wa Na Wari Teams Up With Black Prisoners' Caucus for Exhibit by and About Incarcerated People

Sometimes the requests are simple: a photo of a crowd, the more people the better, or a picture representing liberation.

For incarcerated people held in solitary confinement, every sense is under strict control. Photo Requests from Solitary (PRFS) is a project that invites those in solitary confinement to request a photograph of anything at all — real or imagined — and then connects that request to a volunteer who can make it happen.

A man named Keith requested a picture of "an African American family tree with generations together at births, deaths, holidays, and other important events." The resulting photo by Keisha Scarville was a mosaic of professional family photos from the 20th century with two Black hands intertwined over the tree.

One of the most striking images was requested by a man named Robert, who asked for a photo of himself placed against a different background. "Something simple like a blue sky with clouds or a sunset in the distance would be fine," he wrote. Laurie Jo Reynolds juxtaposed Robert's headshot against a bright blue Midwestern sky with big bales of hay in the background, both beautiful and affecting.

These photos and dozens more artworks made by and about incarcerated people are on display at Wa Na Wari through July 13 in a show spearheaded by the Black Prisoners' Caucus (BPC) called "Voices from Inside." Based here in Washington, BPC focuses on strengthening the ties of Black inmates with their families and communities as well as providing them with educational opportunities.

Most of the works on display at Wa Na Wari, which range from beadwork to paintings to poems, come from eight incarcerated artists who are part of BPC at the Monroe Correctional Complex's Twin Rivers Unit in Monroe, Washington: Tonelli Anderson, Jeremy Blaine, Isaac Carrasco, Antaeus Laurent Clark, Handellah, Heirius A. Howell, David Jackson, and Derik Maples. For Wa Na Wari, "Voices from Inside" reflects a key part of their mission.

"This exhibition for us really represents our desire to connect with and exhibit artists that are a part of our community, whether they're incarcerated or not. We think their voices [give] a really powerful perspective," said Inye Wokoma, cofounder of Wa Na Wari. "Particularly because they do represent a significant segment of our community, and [a] portion of the work we do at Wa Na Wari is all about uplifting the diverse voices of the Black diaspora."

The first floor features a slideshow from PRFS alongside beaded works, paintings, drawings, poems, and letters from those in the Twin Rivers Unit. In one corner, Tonelli Anderson's beaded work glimmers underneath the gallery's lights. One untitled work depicts a Black bearded sphinx with his headdress rendered in black and gold beads. On another wall are several of Anderson's beaded earrings with different, colorful geometric designs, with one pair called "My Sister" that portrays a Black woman in profile.

"During my 28 years of incarceration, I have had many hobbies, but none as fulfilling as beading," Anderson wrote in gallery text accompanying his work. "I have been beading for almost a year. It has provided me with an avenue to express my artistic abilities."

In the adjacent room are several written pieces by various incarcerated artists adorning the walls. In one piece, poet Handellah ruminates on the idea of real-life problems being as easy to solve as math equations:

My imagination is greater than math though/It has shapes that cannot be modeled/And in it I can time travel/Back to my younger self/Where I can be a better version of me/Where I can be more compassionate/Where I can be a better human being.

BPC Community Group wellness director Faraji Blakeney, a formerly incarcerated individual at Monroe Correctional Complex, has spent years resource sharing within the prison system, teaching yoga to incarcerated people, and working on reintegrating formerly imprisoned individuals back into their communities.

"I think that there is an envisioning and an aspiration for life after incarceration, so people are very creative in their imaginings," said Blakeney. "They're envisioning their thoughts because you don't want to be in there, you don't want to miss your daughter's 13th, 15th, or 21st birthday. Those years go by, and most prisons are so far that visits are more infrequent than frequent."

Upstairs are three video works by filmmakers either affected by or committed to fighting the prison-industrial system. Sable Elyse Smith's "How We Tell Stories to Children" is a collage-like video that combines footage from her incarcerated father with surreal, fast-paced shots of kids running or the sky, almost as if her memories were meshing with reality. In another room, a short film by Dehanza Rogers called #BlackGirlhood explores the criminalization of adolescent Black women commissioned by Eastern State Penitentiary.

The most abstract artwork is a video piece, "Dreams Under Confinement," by Christopher Harris. Harris used Google Earth to trace the routes of protests during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and the large footprint of the Cook County Department of Corrections in Atlanta, the nation's third-largest prison system. In the piece, footage of prison and streets start to blur together, calling attention to the ways our urban environments mirror jail systems.

For Blakeney, shows like "Voices from Inside" are an important way to present incarcerated people as people, displaying their artistry and creativity rather than emphasizing their imprisonment.

"The key thing is [incarcerated] people are coming home regardless," said Blakeney. "We want community and society to be able to embrace their wholeness, their intrinsic enoughness, and not strap on labels that are disempowering."

"Voices from Inside" is on view at Wa Na Wari through July 13. Find out more information on the art space's website.