Detainees began to make art almost as soon as they arrive at the United States military prison camp known as Guantánamo Bay. The exhibit includes nearly a hundred of these evocative works, made by six men, all of whom were eventually released without ever having been charged with a crime.
Curator: Erin Thompson, with assistance from Healing and Recovery after Trauma (HeaRT)
This exhibition is an expanded version of “Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo,” curated by Erin Thompson, Paige Laino, and Charles Shields, on display from October 16, 2017-January 26, 2018 at the President's Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York. Read the catalog for that exhibition, including contributions by Trevor Paglen, Solmaz Sharif, Natasha Trethewey, Jericho Brown, and current and former detainees, as a free 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 HeaRT, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Reprieve US, Alka Pradhan of the Military Commissions Defense Organization, Beth Jacob, Suprita Datta, Gail Rothschild, Sam Monaco, and Cullen Strawn.
For more information, or if you would like to be notified about where the exhibit will travel to next, contact HeaRT.
