Art from Inside
Prison Books Program has been sending packages of free, hand-selected books to people in prisons and jails across the country for 51 years. Art from Inside is a curated selection of works that PBP’s readers and requestors have sent to them over the course of many decades, often as a token of gratitude for a shipment of books they received. Many pieces are explicitly book-themed, depicting reading as a temporary escape from the confines of prison or as a vehicle for growth, learning, and rehabilitation. The pieces in this exhibit also showcase the detailed techniques that can be achieved with the simplest tools, most commonly ballpoint pen and pencil. Art from Inside shows how much talent, creativity, and human potential reside behind bars.