Through My I: Art from SCI Phoenix

Art Exhibition at the Barnes | Through My I: Art from SCI Phoenix

Presented by the Barnes Foundation, this special exhibition consists of original paintings created by artists at the State Correctional Institution Phoenix, southeast Pennsylvania’s maximum-security prison for men. The artwork in Through My I portrays the visual reality of incarceration and imagines a world beyond prison fences and concertina wire. These works are public statements by artists whose voices and visions are rarely heard or seen. The opening reception will be held at the Barnes Foundation on July 20, 2023 from 5 pm – 7:30 pm. The exhibition runs from July 14 to August 21, 2023 at the Barnes Foundation 2025 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130.

Mural Arts Philadelphia, has been providing art classes at SCI Graterford and its successor facility SCI Phoenix for over twenty years. In 2002, executive director Jane Golden was invited by art therapist Will Ursprung to speak to the art class at SCI Graterford. The talk was very popular. Jane thought, “What more can we do?” In 2003, Mural Arts began working with the art class to paint small murals inside the facility. Witnessing the great talent of the class, and in response to the participants’ desire to give back to communities they had harmed, Jane advocated with prison officials at the state level to create a “works” program whereby participants in the art class would be paid a modest hourly wage to create murals.

Together with professional muralists Cesar Viveros and Parris Stancell, the class completed its first major public commission, Healing Walls, in 2004. The parachute cloth technique, a portable method of mural making that Mural Arts learned from renowned muralist and mentor Kent Twitchell was, and is, a key component in this process. Tony Heriza, an independent filmmaker, and Jane Golden’s husband, documented the making of the Healing Walls in a film called Concrete Steel & Paint. To date, participants in the mural class at SCI Graterford (now SCI Phoenix) have contributed to over fifty murals that have been gifted to neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.

See some of the murals these artists have worked on!

Healing Walls (Victims Journey) © 2004 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program / Parris Stancell & Cesar Viveros, 3065 Germantown Avenue. Photo by Jack Ramsdale.
Voices Livestream event at SCI Graterford, January 24, 2017. Photo by Mural Arts Staff.
Voices Livestream event at SCI Graterford, January 24, 2017. Photo by Mural Arts Staff.
Voices Livestream event at SCI Graterford, January 24, 2017. Photo by Mural Arts Staff.
From Behind the Mask © 2009 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program / Eric Okdeh, 52nd & Master Streets. Photo by Eric Okdeh.

In 2005, Mural Arts met Robyn Buseman, Director of the Mitchell Program at Saint Gabriel’s Hall; a short term residential program for court adjudicated delinquent males. Mural Arts engaged participants in the Mitchell Program along with the art class at SCI Graterford, and the community of St. Anne’s Parish in Philadelphia, to create a mural about balanced and restorative justice. Shortly thereafter, Buseman joined Mural Arts as its first Director of Restorative Justice programs. Buseman and Golden worked with officials at the state and county level to create the Mural Arts Guild program; a workforce development program for returning citizens.

Together with the Barnes Foundation, Mural Arts has committed to supporting these incredible artists by sending in supplies and projects to work on, selling their artwork with all proceeds going to the artists, and connecting them with Mural Arts’ national local and national community of partners.

Kali Silverman, a Senior Project Manager in our Restorative Justice department, visits SCI Phoenix monthly; along with teaching artists who lead workshops for/with the class. Currently, artist Damon Bain is visiting weekly to work with the class on a mural for McCreesh Recreation Center. Artist Phoebe Bachman is also facilitating a Poster Advocacy project with the class in collaboration with Josh MacPhee of JustSeeds.

The Restorative Justice Prison Program facilitates a project-based curriculum to support the Artists at SCI Phoenix and is looking to grow into other facilities. The goal of the program is to guide artists in creating individual works of art, designing and producing murals, experimenting with new techniques and methods, and assisting

Photo Credit for top: Through My I: Art from SCI: Phoenix. Keith Andrews, Untitled #3, Acrylic on parachute cloth, 2023.

See some of the artworks!

Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.
Artwork from Mural Arts Restorative Justice partcipants at SCI Phoenix. Photo by Steve Weinik.