From Behind Prison Walls: Art of Puerto Rican Patriots

Many of the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War are accomplished artists. Some began painting, ceramics, and other forms of art while imprisoned. Elizam Escobar was an accomplished artist before he was imprisoned. This was an art exhibition of his work done inside prison. He believed that art could be used to promote and influence social change. In his words: “Prison reconfirms the great importance of art in our lives, not only to move the struggle for social and political change forward, but because the profound reflection and intensification that art requires helps us to better understand the real necessities and the true sense of individual and collective freedom. Thus, art becomes a weapon of symbolic exchange.”

Image: Background: ink drawing suggesting a brick wall. Middle: Puerto Rican Flag, Foreground: blue triangle of Puerto Rican flag with drawings of the faces of Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political Prisoners with their names listed in the middle of the poster.

Words: Left column: William Guillermo Morales, Ricardo Jimenez, Alberto Rodriguez, Edwin Cortes, Carlos Alberto Torres, Alejandrina Torres, Luis Rosa, Elizam Escobar. Right Column: Alicia Rodriguez, Oscar Lopez Rivera, Adolfo Matos, Haydee Torres, Lucy Rodriguez, Dylcia Pagan, Carmen Valentin.

Event: Jan 26–Feb 27, 1988, Galeria de La Raza 2851 24th Street, SF, Dedicated to Don Juan Antonio Corretjer

Sponsored by Centro Información Puertorriqueño, Juan Antonio Corretjer, and Friends of Elizam Escobar, San Francisco, CA

© Fireworks Graphics Collective. Go to “Contact Us” for legal use.