The large-scale prison art show Between the Lines grew from an interactive display focused on trust building with impacted communities.
SANTA FE, NM—Demonstrating his methodical process, Carlos Cervantes folds cigarette packaging into rectangular strips and assembles them into a frame that will hug the photograph of a loved one. This video footage of Cervantes, a formerly incarcerated Santa Fe artist and activist, is included in the latest exhibition at the Museum of International Folk Art that showcases prisoner art.
Years in the making, the idea for the exhibition traces back to 2016 when co-curators Patricia Sigala and Chloe Accardi led poetry and art workshops at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo, New Mexico. The workshops were part of an initiative funded by the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, of which MOIFA is a member, designed to open dialogue and address systemic issues around incarceration. On view from August 11, 2024 to September 2, 2025, Between The Lines: Prison Art & Advocacy displays artwork created by incarcerated artists, while responding to feedback from community members affected by incarceration.
A prototype of the show, approximately one-fourth the size of the full exhibition, previewed at MOIFA in 2023. A matchstick jewelry box, a handbag fashioned out of chewing gum wrappers, and paños (drawings on cloth or handkerchiefs) were some of the inspired works by incarcerated artists on display. Alongside the artwork, wall labels asked visitors to consider their own experiences with mass incarceration and what they would like to see in a larger exhibit on prison art. Colorful post-it notes filled with visitor responses lined the walls.
A lot of this exhibit is showcasing [prison] art as brilliant artworks in and of themselves and, more importantly, as gateways, or doorways.
“That whole model for community engagement has really driven this project from the very beginning,” says Sigala. In addition to eliciting viewer feedback for inclusion in the full-scale version of the show, the museum partnered with organizations Youthworks of Santa Fe, Santa Fe Dreamers Project, and the Coalition for Prisoners’ Rights for ongoing dialogue and collaboration. One result of a Youthworks collaboration—a mural created by local students and artist Sam Leyba—is included in the show.
Santa Fe-based artist and Youthworks employee John Paul Granillo was brought in to serve as a kind of liaison between the museum and artists. “The individuals we work with that create things already distrust the idea of a system,” says Granillo. “And so my job was to create the community relationship.” Granillo served nearly ten years in federal prison where he says he had “the time and space to refine my art,” and has devoted himself to his art and community service since his release. He sees the exhibition as offering youth impacted by incarceration “a boost of confidence,” and allowing them to see that “they can use their art for a larger vision.”
“A lot of this exhibit is showcasing [prison] art as brilliant artworks in and of themselves and, more importantly, as gateways, or doorways, to talk about the circumstances under which they were created,” says Accardi. “And then to talk about mass incarceration in general.” Conversations with artists, social workers, and activists is one way the museum plans to further the discussion around incarceration.
“Unfortunately, we are the most incarcerated country in the world. So I bet you most families in America have been touched in some way by incarceration,” says Adam Griego, an active member of the Justice Advisory and Accountability Board and American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico. Through advocacy work, Griego helped support the passage of HB 4, a bill that restored voting rights to all formerly incarcerated New Mexicans.
During a speaking event held in conjunction with Between The Lines, Griego opened up about his own experience being incarcerated and how it affected his family. Several formerly incarcerated attendees who had previously been denied the right to vote became registered voters at the event. “The event was meant to trigger things like that,” Griego says. He also admits how challenging these events can be for individuals to attend and take part in. “The last thing somebody coming out of prison wants to do is think about prisons,” he says. “So that’s the difficult thing about the work is you’re sort of reliving your trauma constantly. Which I’m okay with because I’m a piece of my own personal trauma.”
Limited not just to criminal detention, Between the Lines also “takes and invites an expansive view of incarceration,” says Accardi. Conversations around juvenile detention, ICE detention centers, mental health institutionalization, and internment camps are also included. A screening and panel discussion of Community in Conflict, a documentary about the controversy surrounding the Santa Fe Internment Camp marker is part of the scheduled programming.
Not dissimilar from other folk art, prison art is sometimes divorced of provenance.
As a collecting museum, MOIFA was able to draw from its permanent collection for works included in the exhibition. Other artworks came from donors, art collectors, and prison art fairs, and many are unsigned. “Not dissimilar from other folk art, prison art is sometimes divorced of provenance,” says Accardi. Tracking down some of the artists presented challenges that informed the exhibition. It brought up questions of the artwork, such as “How do we get them? Is it legal for us to have them? How were they purchased?” says Accardi. It also presented an opportunity to consider prison art within the context of folk art and the commonalities that exist therein.
Plans are also in the works to create an online component of the exhibition and its programs, as well as an offline video component to be made available in prison libraries and classrooms. Where and by whom the exhibition is received is one barrier that the museum closely examined. How it is ultimately received by an audience is more difficult to address. “It’s very personal. It touches many lives and we have to be really inclusive and sensitive to this topic,” says Sigala.
In community conversations around the exhibition, area youth opened up about receiving paños from incarcerated family members. The artwork was cherished as a memento or, out of shame, rolled up and hidden under their beds. Now, “the stories and the art are on the walls,” Sigala says. “It’s an exhibit and everything is on view.” Perhaps the view, though brief, will allow visitors to change how they think and feel about members of our community and society that are too often overlooked.
Editor’s note: Special thanks to Between the Lines co-curator Chloe Accardi for providing additional context on many of the images in this article, which you can read in the captions. She offered the following story about Djan Shun Lin’s Eagle, which appears in the body of the article: “Djan Shun Lin was one of many Chinese asylum-seeking passengers aboard the ship Golden Venture, which ran aground in New York in 1994. Detained for nearly four years at the York County Prison in Pennsylvania, he and many would-be immigrants made folded-paper sculptures as gifts for their pro-bono lawyers, or to pass the time. The artist chose the eagle as a symbol of freedom and the hope for a prosperous life in the United States.”
