The exhibit features art works created at New Folsom Prison between 1994-2014 by incarcerated artists participating in the California Arts in Corrections Program (AIC). None of the artists whose work is displayed had formal art training before joining AIC classes. The English Department offers this exhibit in conjunction with the WSU Common Reading program’s 2015-16 selection of the book Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. Stevenson’s book, and his work as the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, resonates with the mission of AIC in that both projects challenge deeply-held stereotypes about incarcerated people. Both projects also press important and timely questions about what it means to be human and what the practice of mass incarceration says about American society.

The exhibit is presented by English faculty member Anna Plemons who studies prison writing programs and has taught creative nonfiction at New Folsom since 2009; specific inquiries about the show can by sent to her at aplemons@wsu.edu. The exhibit will be on display in the Bundy Reading Room until March 2016; reservations to view the show can be made by contacting English at 509-335-2581.