Creating Success (Out) by Darrell Van Mastrigt
Medium: Acrylic on canvas primed cloth
Dimensions: 12 x 14
Artist Statement: These two pieces were created to help prisoners realize they can Defy the Design of prison. A long time ago the idea that prisons were in any way designed to rehabilitate a person for successful re-entry to their community was completely abandoned. Nowadays, the only consideration they make for successful change is how it will affect the profit margins. Today's prisons are simply warehouses designed for profit, punishment and retribution. Prisons try to break us and our family and loved ones down, make us into better criminals, and take away all sense of our self-worth, accomplishment, responsibility and sense of commitment we should have to our family and communities. However, that doesn't mean we have to stay trapped in this prison cycle of violence, addiction, apathy, poverty and death by incarceration (especially not on the "installment plan"). Success starts with us. There are many different paths that lead to success. Inside every prison there are opportunities to make positive change. Positive change physically, mentally and spiritually has to start from within us. I'm a big advocate of finding what works for you, BUT find something. Everything starts from inside. Inside the brain, inside the body, inside the spirit, inside the prison. Look around the prison and find what creates that spark in you. Walking, running, exercise, pick-up sports, organized activities. Making a commitment to physical health is realatively easy in prison, even if it is only inside your cell. Eating welIl is a bit trickier, yet a lot of the deficiencies in food can be compensated for with physical activity. Activity starts creating success. Once a person makes the commitment inside the brain to create success, all creative, educational, vocational and spiritual possibilities come into play. Every prison has some kind of educational classes, vocational classesljobs, and religious services. Even if a person is in the "hole" (RHU), there are still ways to access the chapel, education department or library. Using our creative part of the brain can allow us to draw, paint, sketch, write, sing, compose, etc. No matter what environment you are trapped in, your creativity cannot be taken away. We are designed to improvise. Don't use negative emotions and energy to improvise in destructive ways to yourself or others. Instead, channel it into positive energy and make yourself a better person for yourself, your family, your loved ones and the community you will be returning to. We can choose to make a commitment to cręating success inside ourselves, inside our prison cell, inside our prisons, and inside whatever screwed up, deplorable situation we put ourselves in. When we make that choice, will find success rippling out to the rest of our lives, our family and loved ones, our cellies, our prisons and our communities. No matter what prison we find ourselves in, we CAN make the choice and commitment to Defy the Design being imposed upon us and rise like a phoenix by Creating Success Inside & Out.
Image description: Acrylic painting with bright purple background. Around the edges of the page, the words “Creating Succe$$ Inside & Out” are painted in stylized font in yellow and orange, with black shadows. The word “Inside” has barbed wire painted in black going through the letters. In the center of the image, a phoenix with wings outspread is rising out of flames. There are shackles on its legs, the links of the chains breaking. Each of the guard feathers on the wings has a word painted in black on it, including: HVAC, Organizations, Electronics, Fiber Optics, Responsibility, Plumbing, Landscaping, Carpentry, Running, College, Murals, GED, Welding, CDL, Flagger, Maintenance, Restaurant Trades, Electricity, Exercise, Cosmetology, Writing, Remorse, Masonry, Charity, Barber, OSHA, Print, Sports. Below the phoenix, behind the letters, is a prison fence with razor wire in black. Around the phoenix in a circle, a number of images of people in action are silhouetted in black. These include a person with their head in their hands, a hammer, a family with two adults and two children, a person standing wearing a lot of gear, two people dressing in evening wear, a scroll tied up with string, and a person running.