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Thoughts: Quarantined in Prison

“Pain,” 2022, graphite pencil

Freedom is precious. We take it for granted, and we do not know what it is like to lose all sense of freedom until we are stripped of it.

Being incarcerated during the 2020 pandemic was the hardest thing I have ever done. I was quarantined eight times, each quarantine lasting between three weeks to two months. I was let out of my cell for only an hour a day … for weeks on end.

My release could not have come soon enough. The women in Shakopee prison are still experiencing these quarantines. I honestly do not know how much longer I would have been able to handle it. Thank God I had art.

Art is a form of meditation for me. It helps me reach out to others in a way that words cannot. Making art means laying my emotions out for the world to see and feel. Art is my muse; it inspires me to be more, to do more.