Left: From Incarceration to Liberation (Design), 2014-2015, Colored Pencil on Paper, 11″ x 26″
Center: From Incarceration to Liberation (Mural), 2015-2018, Acrylic Paint on Printed Canvas, 96″ x 226″

These are the mural and its final design for the prison abolition mural for San Francisco State University’s Project Rebound by the True Colors Mural Project of Berkeley City College.

The final design of the mural was completed by all students with colored pencils and printed on a larger canvas. I was a part of the project for one year from the beginning and chosen as one of five members of a design team who finalized and colored the design of the mural. The mural tells stories of people who struggle in the prison-industrial complex and find liberation through education. In the center, we painted the phoenix that symbolizes the resilience of individuals and important figures from Project Rebound and the prison abolishment movement to celebrate their achievements.

Right: Bunk Beds, Stolen Dreams, 2015, Acrylic on canvas, 18” x 24″

This is a blow-up of my creative contribution to the prison abolition mural for San Francisco State University’s Project Rebound designed by the True Colors Mural Project of Berkeley City College.

In the painting, people are sleeping and dreaming on bunk beds in a prison. Lemurs, bats, and imaginary animals show up in their dreams. These animals tease, threaten, and gaze at the prisoners, giving form to their stressful situation. On the bars of the bunk beds, there are bills instead of towels. The bill’s currency is “one prisoner,” which suggests how the Prison Industrial Complex steals people’s dreams and creates money out of them. The prisoners have no choice but to while their time in the deep, dark night.