Free Minds had the privilege of participating in a collaborative photography project called Windows from Prison, directed by photographer Mark Strandquist. In April, several of the Free Minds Poet Ambassadors visited George Mason University for a poetry reading as part of the Windows from Prison Project public exhibition.
For the Windows from Prison Project, Strandquist asked hundreds of youths who were charged and incarcerated as adults to answer the question, “If you could have a window in your cell, what place from your past would it look out to?” Then students at George Mason University and Duke Ellington High School photographed the places described in the letters and mailed the photos back to the inmates as cards. The photos and letters from the inmates were displayed on large banners on the GMU campus from April 7th to April 21st. During the exhibition, GMU hosted a wide variety of events, debates, and discussions related to incarceration, including the poetry reading featuring Free Minds members.
Many of the inmates who participated in the project are Free Minds members, and the Poet Ambassadors who attended the exhibition read poetry written by these members, as well as their own original work. They were joined in this reading by several staff members of BleakHouse Publishing, an independent, non-profit press devoted to publishing work related to social justice issues, especially incarceration.
Aside from reading their poetry, the Free Minds representatives also talked about how important projects like Windows from Prison are for incarcerated people.
“The Free Minds members loved this project. It gave them a chance to reconnect with memories from their childhood and inspired many of them to write poetry and have insights about their past they wouldn’t have had otherwise,” said Free Minds Executive Director Tara Libert. “It also allowed them to connect with the photographers and outside community in a totally unique way. Mark [Strandquist] has an incredible gift for creating art that unites people through universal emotions. I hope this exhibit can travel so more people get a chance to see another side to inmates.”
“When I was incarcerated, I felt dehumanized,” said Free Minds Outreach Coordinator Sherman Justice. “It was so inhumane, and I was just a number to people. Some of the guards, they wouldn’t call me by my name, they’d call me by my number, and when my parents wrote me a letter, it wouldn’t get to me unless it had my inmate number on it. So this project, what Mark did, it’s really good. That’s love, man.”
“I like these photos a lot,” added Free Minds member Gary. “You really enjoy photos when you’re locked up, because the pictures seem to take you away from prison for a little while. When I used to get on the phone with people, I’d be like, okay look, you don’t even have to send a letter, you just gotta take a lot of pictures. I used to have people go to the zoo and take pictures, to the water…. The pictures really help you out a lot.”
As BleakHouse Chief Operations Officer Joanna Heaney pointed out, “It’s really important to give inmates a lot of recognition and love, because a lot of the time in prison, people are just forgotten about and they’re not given the attention they really deserve and need, especially to come out of prison better than they entered. So I think these photos are a wonderful way to help these people reconnect with their communities and give them something to think positively about.”
Sherman underscored this message, addressing the audience with, “We need support. Even what you’re doing right now, coming out here, you’re showing support, and that’s important.”
More about the Windows from Prison Project—including the photos used, the inmates’ original requests, and an archive of the exhibition at GMU—can be found at www.windowsfromprison.com.