Let’s Get Free by Harun Akbar
Medium: Marker and crayon on paper
Dimensions: 9 x 12
Artist Statement: This visual piece showcases the fact that mass incarceration does not only affect the male population but the female population as well. The prison and jail cells are filled with mothers, Sisters, and Daughters. This segment of the prison/jail population is growing at increasingly alarming rates. // If we want to stop this diabolical / trend in its wake / then we gotta be on time / we can't be late / we only gotta be good / we don't gotta be great / towards unity of purpose / the first step, let us take / only then will we see / freedome walk through that gate / we gotta move before we lose / our freedom is at stake // If for freedom we must fight / then both men and women, we must unite!
Image description: Marker-and-crayon drawing of a Black person behind a window with bars. The window is set in a red-and-yellow brick wall, and the surrounding cement is cracking. Under the window are the words “Let’s Get Free”