Escaping Time: Art From U.S. Prisons

The complexities of incarceration in the U.S. penal system are reminders that time is not of the essence. Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons seeks to unlock the barriers of physical and temporal captivity by presenting the bouts of escapism that compels people in prison to create art. During the confined period of forced introspection and shortage of external stimuli, art can provide a sense of flight from confined walls and copious time.
Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons is pleased to present over 200 artworks created within prison walls nationwide.  The majority of artists improvise with limited accessibility to resources, creating canvases from bed sheets, brown paint from cafeteria coffee, and primer from toothpaste.

The original artwork and personal letters on view are inseparable from the system in which they are spawned. Our rate of mass incarceration is not a result of an increase in crime but a reflection of callous policies and outdated structures. Escaping Time: Art from U.S. Prisons presents a call for the harmony of acceptance and the capacity for compassion.

Experience a different perspective of life behind bars with Escaping Time: Art From U.S. Prisons, a unique show of artwork by people are currently and have in the past experienced incarceration. Founded and produced by Anastasia Voron and Mark Thivierge, the show aims to rehabilitate men and women in prison through the use of art. This year’s Escaping Time exhibition will be in collaboration with Isaac Scott of The Confined Arts and as part of this exhibition, we are including artwork by artists who are formally incarcerated, experienced incarceration through their family members, those who’ve experienced incarceration through their communities and artists who work in or around jails and prisons, or are in other ways linked to the issue of mass incarceration.