Art on the Inside: A Collection of Work from the Alabama Prison Arts + Education
Artists and writers typically have a place where they can create, an area that beckons a muse, offers comfort, and provides safety. The artists and writers who participate in the classes of the Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project are behind walls, bars, locks, and wire. But still they create. As one APAEP student wrote, “Creativity is what makes us truly human, a path to and from our soul.”
It is this focus on humanity that APAEP wishes to impart to the viewers of this exhibit. These works represent a human’s struggle to express—a human, an artist, a writer—molded and trained by a life to which most in general public populations cannot relate. Part of the experience of viewing these works is acknowledging the experience of creating in an environment that is frequently so contrary to nurturing creativity.
The Alabama Prison Arts + Education Project has offered arts and educational programming in Alabama state prisons since 2003. The program has grown from one poet teaching one class in one facility to hundreds of classes that have reached thousands of students at over 12 facilities. Those who enroll in arts and creative writing courses have the option to keep their work, loan or donate it to this exhibit, or submit pieces for publication in APAEP’s biennial anthology of student creative work.
APAEP is funded through grants and support from individuals such as you who share our vision and belief that education can be transformative and should be accessible to everyone.
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