Master Control | Art of Voices #ZHill

Master Control

It was one of those days and I must've waited at least an hour before I could enter the juvenile facility to conduct a creative expression workshop.  With no where to sit, I stood and scanned the front entrance at one point attempting to focus my vision through the one way window that housed the master control room on the other side. Though barely visible, I could see the outline of the monitors and guards as they entered and exited the control room.  There was one way in for visitors and one way out.  Above the entrance of the heavy large steel door were the words "Master Control".

In this artwork, I asked Art of Voices participant, Zachary Hill to try and emphasize security and surveillance. The piece also depicts me, the educator, going into the facility with a crate under my arm.  I wanted to focus on the crate which contained books and publications that I'd bring with me and make available to the participants.  It includes a collection of books for what I called our "VBW Library", including copies of the Beat Within publication, a weekly publication of writing and art from incarcerated youth all around the United States and a couple other countries.  I recall during one of those long waits staring at the etched words above the main entrance..."Master Control".  It meant a lot of things to me in the context of the lives held inside, the security staff, and the facility's visitors.  I thought about the kind of writing topic that we could pull from the entrance.  Thinking about spaces we've entered in our lives that we remember most.  What do these entrances into prison mean for incarcerated youth?  What do entrances mean to the incarcerated adult population?  If you've seen A Place to Stand, Jimmy Santiago Baca's documentary based on his life and experience incarcerated in Arizona's state prison it depicts a scene going in.  How are these entrances identified in other facilities?  How does the process of entering these spaces for a volunteer or educator compare or what makes them different?

Below is a Q&A with the illustrator about his approach to the piece and art:

Lee: How would you describe your approach to this illustration in regards to its color and other features?

ZH: First I designated a color pallet to work with. Like you said, the area has a lot of reds and browns in the surrounding color, so I felt a cooler tone would compliment that well... Hence the blue in the clothing, trim and door. The use of blue also helped group some of the more important elements. I also used textures to create a contrast between layers.

Lee: What's your earliest memory that speaks for how you're involved in art today.  What inspires you to create?

ZH: I've always been very involved in art. It's been a huge part of my life for as far back as I can remember. My dad is a high school art teacher, and he's always been a huge inspiration to me. I also just have a very wild and vivid imagination, and creating art is one of the best ways I can share that with people. 

Lee: Generally, what kind of themes do you approach in your work? Are there any other themes related to the criminal justice field that you've explored through your art?

ZH: I really prefer to render out a lot of the details of a piece. I like to keep things as direct and easy to understand as I can. I definitely favor creating new and interesting creatures and landscapes in my work. The conception stage is my favorite. I haven't done much work before in the criminal justice system before, so a lot of this is very new and interesting to me. I have definitely had to rework my thought process with these pieces, which has been challenging but entertaining nevertheless.

**The "Master Control" illustration by Zachary Hill was featured in this summer's syllabus for a course instructed by VBW Founder Lecroy Rhyanes, called Creative Expressions of Masculinity In & Out of Juvenile Detention at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

#Lee

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.