Photo: Courtesy of Let's Get Free
“self-inflicted injury" by Zhi Kai Vanderford, part of Picture A Free World
He is also serving a life sentence at the State Correctional Institution in the Laurel Highlands.
Epps explores how her brother’s situation has affected him and their family with a piece going on display as part of Picture A Free World, an exhibition and art auction taking place at Concept Art Gallery. Opening July 7 and running through Sat., July 29, the show features nearly 200 pieces of art benefiting and raising awareness about the work of Let’s Get Free: The Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee, a local prison advocacy group focused on those facing life without parole.
Curated by etta cetera, Picture A Free World showcases more than 60 artists currently in prison and 30 artists on the outside, all of whom work in mediums ranging from cross-stitching, painting, sculpture, and photography. Together, the works consider the question, “what is a free world for you, and for others?”
Picture A Free World supports and expands on the mission of Let’s Get Free, and cetera tells Pittsburgh City Paper that, compared to the group’s previous five art shows, this year has seen a big jump in submitted works.
“We’re at 182 numbered pieces,” she says, adding that, because they skipped doing an art show last year, they had more time to do outreach and gather participants. She also points to the first Let’s Get Free show, which featured around 17 “incarcerated artists,” around a quarter of what they have now, as an example of their growth over time.
“We’re building our community on the inside, as well as building the artists in solidarity,” she says. “And I really love that the art show has both sides of the wall together.”
The show features both local and national artists. Cedar Annenkovna Mortenson, a first-time participant from Colorado, submitted an illustration with colored pencils described as connecting “issues of forgiveness, environmental justice, and ending gun violence.”
Zhi Kai Vanderford, a trans man who has been incarcerated in a Minnesota women’s prison for close to four decades, is a second-time participant. In his latest piece, “self-inflicted injury,” he writes that he has “sewn my eyes and mouth shut but in my mind's eye I see my potential life.”
Still, he admits to struggling with the show’s theme.
“I had a hard time encompassing all that freedom would mean to me,” he says. “For example, this is a no-touch facility, so I haven't had a hug in five years. I will be having a visit soon and remedy that. But the concept is not easily quantifiable, to be able to go to a door and open it, a fridge, a nighttime sky, petting animals, etcetera.”
Also included in the show is Across the Walls, a video made through a collaboration between Let’s Get Free and local multimedia Njaimeh Njie, which was commissioned as part of the Carnegie Museum of Art’s 58th Carnegie International show. According to cetera, the video allows viewers to hear from women currently serving life sentences. It also includes Avis Lee and Paulette Carrington, two women who were released from life sentences after both serving more than 40 years.
Most pieces will be auctioned off online with prices starting as low as $10 and all proceeds going towards the work of Let’s Get Free.
Epps — who, besides being part of Pittsburgh’s #notwhite artist collective, also co-owns the Arts & Crafts: Botanica & Occult Shop in Garfield — built a piece around a letter her brother sent from prison. During a phone interview with City Paper, she chokes up when discussing Oscar, who entered the prison system in 2006 aged 19 and has since made strides in his educational and professional development.
She points to how Oscar was relocated to SCI Laurel Highlands, a facility that houses inmates with long-term health needs, because of his excellent bedside manner with dying prisoners. “It takes a special person to deal with something like that,” she says, expressing her frustration at how his talents and skills could be an asset to those on the outside.
In an email, she lays out his many accomplishments since being incarcerated, including earning a number of degrees and certifications, co-founding the Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice, and co-authoring the book Life Sentences: Writings from Inside an American Prison.
Epps believes that, though Oscar has accomplished a lot, the prison system, especially in Pennsylvania, has demonstrated that it has little regard for the rehabilitation of inmates. She hopes that the work of organizations like Let’s Get Free can inspire positive reform by humanizing and advocating for those facing life in prison.
“Nothing can ever change what happened that day in 2005 but every day Oscar strives to be a better person than the [19-year-old] he was when he lost his freedom,” she writes. “As of now Oscar seeks redemption through [Pennsylvania’s] commutation process and hopes for a second chance one day.”
Picture A Free World. Continues through Sat., July 29. Concept Art Gallery. 1031 South Braddock Ave., Regent Square. Free. conceptgallery.com
