Visions From The Inside: Rodriguez

Artist statement: “I created this piece to depict both the dignity and the suffering that women endure in for-profit detention centers.  The women detained in Karnes County Detention Center have endured physical abuse, rape by prison guards, and the constant sicknesses of their children. In this piece, I wanted to show the ways in which prison degrades and abuses women. I used a jagged brush stroke to show the harshness of detention, and the human suffering of women who come to this country in search of a safe haven. This piece should reminds us that detention is still the reality in the US, continually defended by the Obama Administration. Although some women are being released, they are forced to wear ankle monitoring bracelets. The text in the piece is an excerpt from a letter by Lilian Oliva, age 19, who was discovered in a family detention center bathroom bleeding from cuts to her wrist. Her letter said, “You don’t understand that people’s lives has no price…I come here so this country can help me but here you’ve been killing me little by little with punishment and lies in prison when I haven’t committed any crime.” Lilian, who had been held with her 4-year-old son since October 2014, was deported in June 2015.”