Detainees at the United States military prison camp known as Guantánamo Bay have made art from the time they arrived. The exhibit displays some of these evocative works, made by eight men: four who have since been cleared and released from Guantánamo, and four who remain there. They paint the sea again and again although they cannot reach it.
October 16, 2017-January 26, 2018, President's Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York
Curators: Erin Thompson, Paige Laino, and Charles Shields
Read the catalog, including contributions by Trevor Paglen, Solmaz Sharif, Natasha Trethewey, Jericho Brown, and current and former detainees, as a free multimedia PDF here or order a print copy here.
The exhibit received widespread press coverage, including in the New York Times, New Yorker, Paris Review, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS NewsHour, Comedy Central, Deutsche Welle, La Repubblica, Miami Herald, Al Jazeera, NPR, PRI, BBC World Service, The Nation, and The Guardian.
Special thanks to the Center for Constitutional Rights, Reprieve US, Alka Pradhan of the Military Commissions Defense Organization, Beth Jacob, Suprita Datta, Gail Rothschild, Ran Kampel, Julian A. Jimarez Howard, Melaney Portillo, and Amanda King.
For more information, or if you would like to be notified about where the exhibit will travel to, email curator@artfromguantanamo.com.
