Guerrilla Art from the Inside

SCI Phoenix Artists Create Posters for Advocacy

artist Various Artists
  • location Citywide
  • Neighborhood

    Citywide

  • completion date

    February 29, 2024

About the Project 

During a visit to the Mural Arts Room at SCI Phoenix, artists discussed how important it is to support criminal justice advocacy organizations through their artwork. Though most of the artists at SCI Phoenix are living out life sentences with little hope for their release, they know how valuable their voices and perspectives can be; they only need help getting their messages out of the facility.

From this conversation, a new project was born that focused on learning political poster design and techniques – from text and identifiable images to messaging and calls to action.

As part of our ongoing work with artists at SCI Phoenix, Mural Arts worked with incarcerated artists to create a series of poster designs focused on criminal justice reform and anti-violence efforts. The posters were installed in public spaces across the city and distributed to criminal justice-based organizations and individuals.

Creating the posters was difficult, as getting supplies inside the prison was hard. We began with workshops to narrow down issues that were important to the group, including innocence, death by incarceration, gun violence, conditions inside the prison, and decarceration. The artists then took part in workshops with Josh MacPhee to learn the history of political poster making and important iconography. The artists created drafts, which were then taken out of the prison and scanned. Josh MacPhee used the risograph printmaking technique to produce a series of poster prints.

The posters were wheat-pasted at sites across the city. They have also been distributed at multiple events and sent to colleagues working in the field from Atlanta to California.

The voices of incarcerated individuals are incredibly important reminders of how we heal as a society, reckon with justice, and give people a second chance. These voices hold reflections, accountability, healing, hope, and wisdom.

Posters 

  • Abolition, Thomas Schlik.

  • America Land Of Legal Guns, Charles Harrison.

  • Break The Chain, Felix Rodriguez.

  • Ceasefire, Thomas Schlik.

  • DBI, Robert E. Rigler.

  • DECARCERATE, Thomas Schlik.

  • First Do No Harm, James Green.

  • How Many More, Keith Andrews.

  • Jail Cat, Thomas Schlik.

  • Jesus Loves Everybody, Thomas Schlik.

  • Prison State, Felix Rodriguez.

  • Prison State, Robert E. Rigler

  • Sin La Lucha No Hay Éxito, Eduardo Ramirez.

  • Sin La Lucha No Hay Éxito, Eduardo Ramirez.

  • Stop Gun Violence, Felix Rodriguez.

  • Untitled, Thomas Schlik.

  • Walk A Mile In My Shoes: William Johnson, Eduardo Ramirez.

  • Walk A Mile In My Shoes: William Johnson, Eduardo Ramirez.

  • WAR, Felix Rodriguez.

  • We All Have The Right To Live, Felix Rodriguez.

  • Young Not 2 Have A 2nd Chance, Al Collantes.

Download Posters (PDF)

Artists include 

Al “Lito” Collantes
Charles Harrison
Eduardo “Eddie” Ramirez
Felix “Freddie’ Rodriguez
James Green
Keith “Butu” Andrews
Robert “Bob” E. Rigler
Thomas Schilk

The project was produced by facilitating artist Phoebe Bachman with support from Prison Program Manager Kali Silverman. The posters were designed and printed by Josh McPhee. The posters were installed by artist and alumni of the Mural Art Room at SCI Graterford/Phoenix, Cody Stuhltrager.

To learn more about Mural Arts’ support of artists at SCI Phoenix, please read our latest blog post.

Funder 

Art for Justice

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