Last week, the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design held an art exhibit with a twist – all 250 pieces included in the exhibition were created by individuals serving time or had done time in the Wisconsin prison system.
There were 65 pieces submitted to the Institute, and all works submitted were included in the exhibit. The works were created with different mediums ranging from sketches to paintings and sculptures.
The exhibition showed that creating is a basic human need. And the artists testified to this, lauding art as comforting, therapeutic and filling huge gaps in the emotionally draining environment they found themselves in. In their artworks, the artists expressed common and repetitive themes of isolation, scarcity and the passage of time.
The exhibition was a statement of the Institute’s values of community, isolation and courage. It was a display of the humanity and potential of these individuals and a way of encouraging them to move forward and not let their past define them.