Artist Hank Willis Thomas Projected Writings by Prisoners Fearful of Catching Coronavirus Onto Manhattan’s Criminal Justice Buildings

The artist Hank Willis Thomas is taking a stand on behalf of the
world’s incarcerated population, many of whom are suffering as the
coronavirus pandemic ravages prisons, with a new installation of
his work, The Writing on the Wall. On Sunday
night, the artist will project texts written by people in jail onto
the facades of buildings tied to the criminal justice system in
lower Manhattan.

It’s “an effort to insist that people in detention not be
forgotten especially in this moment, and to center the voices of
those directly impacted in our consciousness as we face a
pandemic,” Thomas wrote on Instagram.

The artwork was created in collaboration with Baz
Dreisinger, executive director of the think tank Incarceration Nations
Network. Dreisinger has spent years collecting prisoners’
writings, sourced from some 50 countries.

The pair first turned those passages into art last fall, for a
public art installation on the High
Line in New York City. The texts papered the walls of a
cell-like installation, with essays, letters, poems, and even
graphic novels giving voice to the experience of being locked
up.

Today, prisoners face an even more dire situation. By living in
close quarters and lacking protective gear, their conditions easily
enable the spread of COVID-19. As of the first week of May, 20,119
people in prison had tested positive and there have been at least
304 related deaths, according to the Marshall Project, a
nonprofit news outlet covering the US criminal justice
system. Even as several states and countries around the world
begin to reopen after lockdown, the coronavirus remains a threat to
the health and safety of those behind bars.

The frightening new reality facing inmates now inspired Thomas
and Dreisinger to bring back The Writing on the
Wall for a global tour. It also includes new writings inspired
by the fear and uncertainty of the present moment.

“One piece—about ‘the voices behind the wall’ during the
pandemic—was written last week by my loved one serving his 27th
year of incarceration in New York and scared for his life,”
wrote Dreisinger on Instagram.

In this first restaging of the work, Thomas and Dreisinger
chose New York City buildings linked closely to mass incarceration.
That included the Manhattan Detention Complex, also known as the
Tombs, which mostly holds pre-trial detainees, who are still
legally innocent until proven guilty, and the New York City courts
complex.

“As the death toll began to grow, fears of losing loved ones
grew too. Talk turned to protecting our most vulnerable population;
yet we forgot and overlooked those imprisoned throughout our
state,” proclaimed bold yellow type below the pediment on the
neoclassical New York County Supreme Court.

By sharing inmates’ words, Thomas and Dreisinger hope to
illuminate the plight of those behind bars during this global
crisis, and inspire prison reform.

The post Artist Hank Willis Thomas Projected Writings by
Prisoners Fearful of Catching Coronavirus Onto Manhattan’s Criminal
Justice Buildings appeared first on artnet News.