The exhibition gives students an opportunity to try to understand a group of people who might otherwise remain an afterthought hidden by lock and key.

“To see works like these helps us to recognize that these are people with full, complex lives,” Carolyn Loeb, the associate dean of the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities said. “Being able to connect with them through their artwork reminds us of the total human being that has been imprisoned.”

Students shared Loeb’s sentiment. 

“In our classes, we talk about these abstract generalizations like ‘people in prison,’ but when you actually see the artwork it helps you to better understand where they are coming from,” Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman Shayla Croteau said.

Students appreciated the powerful message delivered by the artwork on display.

“It shows that a child’s room should be safe and a getaway from what’s happening in the world,” Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman Michelle Wilson said while viewing Israel Emmanuel’s painting entitled “Shattered Dreams.” 

“I really feel the emotion of all the different stresses but the child looks so safe,” she said.

Students enjoyed not only content of the artwork but the artistic skill displayed by the exhibit as well.

“I can’t imagine ever being able to do this," Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman Matt Gondek said while viewing Harvey Pell’s drawing “Untitled.”  "Look how detailed these pieces are, like the center of this eye. With just a ballpoint pen? It’s amazing." 

Loeb said both students and prisoners benefit from the exhibition. She said it gives prisoners a way to express themselves and find talents they might not of known they had.

“There’s a lot of rage, there’s a lot of fear that people have when they are incarcerated and this can be outlet to express those things,” Loeb said.

“Living Inside the World: Artwork from Michigan’s Prisons” is put on by PCAP in cooperation with the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities and is free to the general public. The LookOut! Art Gallery is open noon to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and the exhibit ends Oct. 23.

On Oct. 15 there will be a staged reading of “Justice for Maurice Henry Carter” at 7p.m. at the RCAH Theatre. The play centers on the fight to free a man wrongfully convicted of shooting a police officer and the bonds forged by shared struggle. For information on both the reading and the exhibit see the RCAH events website.