Artist Statement:
I received the inspiration for the series Women Ex-Cons in 1994, while I was an inmate at CRC State Prison.
The focus of my artwork had always been the marginalized, the misunderstood, the others, queers, women, people with AIDS. As a convict, I experienced firsthand the deep ills of the prison industrial complex. Upon my release from prison, I felt the urgency to begin the photographic series and tell the personal stories of women caught in a system with no resources to educate or liberate themselves physically, mentally or spiritually. I use our stories to convey the injustices of the US prison system.
Presently, the USA uses the prison system to cast away millions of minorities, women, and other “undesirables”. The USA incarcerates more people than any other country in the world, with approximately 2.5 million people currently locked up.