Introducing the Art of Voices #Brianna

Introducing the Art of Voices

Art of Voices is a Voices Behind Walls (VBW) project supported by Community Solutions of El Paso to recruit illustrators through Volunteer Match to help recreate VBW workshop photographs into art.  The photographs were taken during workshop activities in juvenile detention between the years of 2006-2014.  Artistic remakes of the photographs protect the identity of workshop participants by changing details of face and other identifiers.  The purpose of this project is to document the VBW program's history and the creative expression activities incarcerated youth were engaged in.  This project also offers the VBW photographer and illustrators an opportunity to reflect on what the images say about the juvenile justice system and the importance of creative expression activity for youth as a means of education, therapy, self-improvement, community engagement, rehabilitation, positive Hip Hop activity, and mentorship. It's also important to understand how the VBW program connected with participants through Hip Hop activity.  Hip Hop opened the opportunity for participants to explore their talents as lyricists/eMCees, singers, writers, storytellers, poets, musicians, beat makers, sketch artist, and other collaborative involvements within and outside of the detention facility.  In addition, the VBW workshop engaged youth in literacy development by promoting reading activity, chess, and encouraging juvenile detention units to work together to support individual and group accomplishments.  Through Hip Hop we also discussed the importance of listening to each other and the world around us.  

The Art of Voices will document these activities and encourage the juvenile justice system to support and promote creative expression programming for incarcerated youth and youth released from confinement.

Below is our first Art of Voices submission by sketch artist Briaanna.  The sketch is titled "Mousey". It captures two VBW participants learning how to program an old keyboard to make beats.  The facility often kept the keyboard locked in a closet since it was missing a power adapter.  The other option to power the keyboard involved batteries which were considered contraband in the facility.  The VBW program acquired approval to purchase a power adapter for the incarcerated youth to turn on the keyboard and use it during workshop time.  Although the keyboard didn't have very many functions to support actual beat production, incarcerated youth still managed to create several sounds they were proud of and that are now part of the VBW instrumental archive.  One of VBW's participants who went by Mousey became known as one of our first "in house producers".  His natural talents on the keys maximized what we thought could be done on the old beat up keyboard.  

Eventually, the keyboard would be used as an incentive by certain staff for good behavior.  This became a problem since any infraction, depending on the staff member, could result in the keyboard being locked back into a closet or "lost".  There were long stretches of time where we'd often find ourselves trying to figure out what happened to the keyboard. 

The expressions of the youth in Briaanna's sketch capture several feelings including sadness, and the depression of living in a juvenile detention unit.  There is also something to be said about their concentration and focus on the sounds being created with the keyboard.  

The poster in the back includes a message I saw on a dry erase board of an education room in the juvenile detention center.  On this particular day I waited at least an hour for the staff to transport participants to the education room to begin VBW programming.  Between reading and listening for any indication that staff didn't forget I was there, I scanned the room and took pictures of what the teacher wrote with my camera.  Reflecting on the original image, I asked Briaanna to include the message in the sketch, except in the form of a poster taped to the wall.  Outdated motivational posters were common place as decoration in the education rooms.  

Until the next sketch, we present the Art of Voices.  A link below will direct you to a VBW audio produced by Mousey titled ((Mysterious Minds)).  The beat was created on the very same keyboard you see represented in the sketch.  

Thank you Briaanna.

((Mysterious Minds))

Instrumental: click here