Art on death row: ‘it’s good, evil, vanilla ... all things in what we humans call life’

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYE30F1HaBFr83el0iruVXlxlRY6K41qm3GGNeT4TAaqAxnojX9NBYG1xXHHlhojEUC6zTZ4BJQCIvRSJSwLRKyOZdCgsZO7zZMR02noDNSRqF9W0dy3X6kiwe8BiSQmP2cqyWEuPe4vE/s1600/Another+Day+in+Paradise+Myuran+Sukumaran+Exhivition+JAN_2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="'Another Day in Paradise' - Myuran Sukumaran's exhibition opens in Sydney" border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYE30F1HaBFr83el0iruVXlxlRY6K41qm3GGNeT4TAaqAxnojX9NBYG1xXHHlhojEUC6zTZ4BJQCIvRSJSwLRKyOZdCgsZO7zZMR02noDNSRqF9W0dy3X6kiwe8BiSQmP2cqyWEuPe4vE/s400/Another+Day+in+Paradise+Myuran+Sukumaran+Exhivition+JAN_2017.jpg" title="'Another Day in Paradise' - Myuran Sukumaran's exhibition opens in Sydney" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Another Day in Paradise' - Myuran Sukumaran's exhibition opens in Sydney</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>For those fighting the death penalty, art isn’t just about self-expression – it’s also a weapon in the battle for hearts and minds</b><br /><br />Close to 3,000 inmates are currently on death row while controversy rages following a series of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/13/pfizer-blocks-drugs-lethal-injections" target="_blank">recent botched lethal injection executions</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/03/record-number-people-exonerated-of-crimes-last-year" target="_blank">DNA-based exonerations of death row inmates</a> and growing concern over <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/racial-bias-texas-death-penalty-cases-harvard-study" target="_blank">racial discrimination in the criminal justice system</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Through art, a coalition of artists, educators and activists hope to humanise the plight of prisoners and sway public opinion. Organisations include <a href="https://reachcoalition.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">R .E.A.C.H.</a> which provides workshops to Tennessee death row inmates, <a href="http://minutesbeforesix.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Minutes Before Six (MB6)</a>, a blog by death row inmates dedicated to using arts and literature as a form of rehabilitation, and <a href="http://www.artforjustice.org/" target="_blank">Art For Justice</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In some cases, the human body itself has become a political tool in this debate. In a macabre twist, Texas death row inmate Travis Runnels has given his consent for his body post-execution to be donated to Danish activist Martin Martensen-Larsen to <a href="http://glasstire.com/2013/05/28/danish-man-to-exhibit-the-gilded-body-of-executed-texas-inmate/" target="_blank">be painted gold and preserved as part of an installation</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2012, the ashes of another executed convicted murderer from Texas, Karl Eugene Chamberlain, <a href="http://bigthink.com/Picture-This/should-a-death-row-inmates-corpse-become-art%20%20http://bigthink.com/Picture-This/should-a-death-row-inmates-corpse-become-art%20%20http://bigthink.com/Picture-This/should-a-death-row-inmates-corpse-become-art" target="_blank">were exhibited as part of an installation by Martensen-Larsen</a> in a Danish church.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.windowsondeathrow.com/" target="_blank">Windows on Death Row</a>, a travelling exhibition of over 60 works from death row inmates and some of America’s most famous political cartoonists, is currently on show at Ohio State University, while London-based artist Nicola White, founder of ArtReach: Reaching out with Art from Death Row – a project featuring <a href="http://www.artofsanquentin.com/" target="_blank">a website of art by San Quentin inmates</a> for sale, with proceeds used for victims of violent crimes, and to buy art supplies – plans four new shows of prisoners’ work this year in London. Her Twitter feed <a href="https://twitter.com/deathrowartists" target="_blank">@DeathRowArtists</a> provides a lively commentary on the art of San Quentin prisoners.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And in Sydney, a show of over 100 paintings by executed Bali Nine member Myuran Sukumaran, <a href="http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2017/myuran" target="_blank">Another Day in Paradise</a>, has just opened at Campbelltown Arts Centre, organised by artist and co-curator Ben Quilty, who was Sukumaran’s mentor and teacher until Sukumaran was executed in 2015.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Why have these artists and educators become involved? For Williams, formerly a death penalty supporter, it is to provide a voice for the voiceless. He adds: “If we’re going to kill these men, then we should be willing to listen to what they have to say.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For White, who has worked with more than 25 San Quentin inmates since 2015, art and self-expression is a basic human right that provides dignity to the condemned. These men are human – often showing “extraordinary talent” – not monsters, she says. Art can act as a powerful political weapon by putting a face and story to these lives.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">White quoted Sister Helen Prejean, a Louisiana-based campaigner for death row prisoners and the families of murder victims, and an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty. “When she met a death row prisoner she had been writing to for the first time, [she] said, ‘When I saw his face, it was so human, it blew me away. I got a realisation then, no matter what he had done … he is worth more than the worst thing he ever did’.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For many, art has provided a form of personal rehabilitation. Quilty points to Sukumaran, and his journey from drug-runner to sensitive and self-knowing artist. White cites former Crips gang member Steve Champion, who has been on death row since 1982, age 18; he is now a self-educated author.</div><br /><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/12/art-on-death-row-its-good-evil-vanilla-all-things-in-what-we-humans-call-life" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article (+ artwork, links)</a></b><br /><br />Source: The Guardian, Sharon Verghis, January 12, 2017<br /><div><br /></div><div><b>➤ Related content:</b></div><ul><li><a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2017/01/bali-nine-member-myuran-sukumarans-gut.html" target="_blank">Bali Nine Member Myuran Sukumaran's Gut-Wrenching Exhibition Opens</a>, Ben Neuze, January 11, 2017</li><li><a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2017/01/racism-death-penalty-and-myuran.html" target="_blank">Racism, the death penalty and Myuran Sukumaran</a>, Ben Quilty, December 24, 2016</li><li><a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2017/01/mother-of-bali-nine-member-myuran.html" target="_blank">Mother of Bali Nine member Myuran Sukumaran wants people to remember him through art</a>, Louise Milligan, January 6, 2017</li></ul><br /><div><div style="text-align: center;">⚑ | Report an error, an omission; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: <a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com">deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a>.</div><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="4" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 204, 0); color: black; text-align: center; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4sspwgGptzvuHVklum5TwxKppRN-lIC5TN8RLZFq_B4ZOtBrX1ssXPNKQ6XpSyQFRJRtVQN45HMkpt3VX0JtOW0TovwxZAurG-AV6gh98IAXo7Ip6QlpkZr9WrM3_m943Mwy-gGxBAY/s1600/Find+us+Facebook.jpg" /></a></div></td> <td><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiULIPEaT_P6oIauxAZd17XRRxljesDLS7iIjdQXT7Xct99uHeohx4IYmiAB6S044gTjMDGSy50sL2vDzOyPZ-3vJj9zwcYQ2rgzJh9v1-QDiunKAQtLLLqJ83s38qN3HABxGIC8GsIOD0/s1600/Find+us+twitter.jpg" /></a><span id="goog_1427852018"></span><span id="goog_1427852019"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><b>Opposed to Capital Punishment? 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Art on death row: ‘it’s good, evil, vanilla ... all things in what we humans call life’

'Another Day in Paradise' - Myuran Sukumaran's exhibition opens in Sydney For those fighting the death penalty, art isn’t just a...

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