TULSA, Okla. — When people enter prison, separation from the outside world can extend beyond their families, neighborhoods and careers. It can also remove them from the cultural communities where artists find audiences, feedback and connection.
A Tulsa arts organization is working to challenge that isolation.
JustArts Gallery and Circle Cinema will present Redemption Time Sunday, Aug. 23, at 7 p.m. The 70-minute performance film follows poet Jimmy Santiago Baca and jazz violinist Christian Howes, two formerly incarcerated artists whose creative lives were shaped by their experiences.
Director David Gonzalez will join the Tulsa audience virtually for a Q&A after the screening.
For Wendy Jason, founder and director of Tulsa-based JustArts Gallery, bringing the film to Tulsa is connected to a larger effort: ensuring incarcerated artists aren’t erased from their communities’ cultural lives.
“More than anything, the artists I work with want to be seen in their full humanity,” Jason told The Black Wall Street Times.
“They want to contribute, they want to connect, and they don’t want to be erased,” she said. “Their art is a way to continue having a presence in the world outside of prison.”
Incarcerated artists describe art as a connection to the outside
JustArts works with artists who are incarcerated and formerly incarcerated. Jason said their identities are often more complicated than dominant narratives about people in prison allow.
The artists themselves describe outside engagement with their work as particularly meaningful.
“Freedom of expression is about the only freedom left to the prisoner,” artist and writer Gary Farlow said in a statement shared with BWST. “Knowing that our work resonates with someone on the outside serves to not only inspire further work, but equally validates our worth in a system filled with toxic shame and feelings of alienation.”
Artist Mike Tran described creating art inside prison as isolating.
He said incarcerated artists have limited access to research, tutorials and constructive feedback. Meanwhile, the realities of prison can leave little room for creative reflection.
Receiving responses from people outside prison changes that experience, Tran said.
“It helps us know that our work isn’t in vain, that we are seen, that we are not forgotten,” he said. “It reminds us that we are more than our issued ID numbers.”
Artist and writer Obie Weathers, who is under a death sentence, described what displaying his artwork through JustArts has meant to him.
“For me it’s been important to have this partnership with JustArts as public appreciation and engagement with my work both affirms my place on earth as a death sentenced person, and it allows for a dialogue with the public that solitary confinement has tried to prevent,” Weathers said.
‘Redemption Time’ brings the conversation to Tulsa
Redemption Time combines Baca’s spoken-word poetry, Howes’ jazz and personal storytelling about incarceration, trauma and transformation.
Rather than following a conventional documentary format, the film captures a live performance by the two artists.
JustArts programmer Ryan Thomas said the filmmakers have held screenings and events around the country. Similar arts organizations were invited to preview the film.
Jason attended one of those virtual screenings and contacted the filmmakers about bringing Redemption Time to Tulsa, Thomas said.
For Jason, Oklahoma’s relationship with incarceration makes that conversation particularly relevant.
She said many Oklahomans have experienced incarceration themselves or have watched a loved one enter the criminal legal system.
Jason also sees the screening as part of JustArts’ effort to make incarcerated artists participants in Tulsa’s cultural life.
“Our community becomes more welcoming, inclusive, and rich the more voices we bring in,” Jason said. “I believe Tulsa can lead the way for other cities in this regard.”
No currently or formerly incarcerated Oklahoma artists are scheduled to participate in Sunday’s screening or discussion, Jason told BWST. However, she said Oklahoma artists have participated in other JustArts events.
Thomas hopes audiences leave the theater considering what creative expression can make possible even under extreme circumstances.
“I hope people can leave the screening understanding that everyone deserves a second chance,” Thomas said, “and even through the darkest of circumstances and places that art and creative expression are powerful tools to find the light again and reconnect with each other.”
Tickets for the one-night screening are $11 for Circle Cinema members and $13 for non-members.
