From Reservations to Solitary Confinement: Resistance and Revitalization, A Story Through Prison Art
Saturday, April 15, session 3
3:00 PM - 4:30 PM PST
In this interactive workshop/art exhibit, Michael Saavedra will create both a live and a virtual exhibit through the Artsteps platform titled, “From Reservations to Solitary Confinement: Resistance and Revitalization, A Story Through Prison Art.” In this art exhibit, Michael will include some of his artwork, done during my incarceration in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay State Prison, and two pieces from his solitary confinement neighbor William “Guero” Sells, who died during the hunger strikes to abolish solitary confinement. The purpose of this exhibit is to highlight similarities between the policies in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation that further criminalize Black and Brown people for reclaiming their Indigenous and ancestral knowledge, and the policies used against Native Americans by the prison industrial complex as part of the long-term project by the American government to exterminate Indigenous people and our culture. solidarity.
Michael Saavedra
Michael Saavedra was released from prison in February 2017 after being inside for over 19 years, where he was kept in solitary confinement for over 15 years. During that time, he helped organize, lead, and participated in all three separate California prisoner hunger strikes against solitary confinement between 2011 and 2013. He also educated himself while in solitary and was able to learn and utilize the law to successfully sue the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation several times, as well as assist and teach others to do the same.