Art from death row
There are some inmates on death row in the U.S. as well as other countries with amazing talents and abilities in the artistic or writing fields. It is not uncommon for inmates to have discovered or developed their skills and talents – as amazing as it may sound – precisely there.
The reasons why inmates have devoted themselves to painting or writing, what they want to achieve or express with it, are as diverse and invidual as each individual personality and the life story associated with it. Therefore we would like to build up a page here, which offers prisoners and former death row inmates the possibility to share their works as well as their personal life story.
Currently we refer to already existing pages and works of prisoners, which you can find under the following headings
Last but not least, it is also the merit of some prisoners to offer the viewer insights into places that would otherwise be inaccessible to the general public by means of realistic records.
For example, Nigerian artist and former death row inmate Arthur Judah Angel chronicled through charcoal drawings the conditions of Nigerian prisons during his 16 years on death row.
Current events, projects & further information
In our Life on Death Row” project website for the 2018 World Day Against the Death Penalty, you will find over one hundred contributions from death row inmates: drawings and paintings, poems and stories.
Through the blog Art Through Prison Bars you will get to the site of our member Anja Claudia Pentrop, who is an artist herself and has also dedicated herself to this special topic in addition to her own art.
In the website SAN QUENTIN DEATH ROW ARTISTS & WRITERS prisoners, mainly from California’s death row, find a platform to publish their artwork – exhibitions are also supported.