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The US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba currently holds
171 prisoners, down from a high of around 800. Following Barack Obama's
election, officials began offering art classes to the inmates. A few
months ago, the centre’s authorities decided to show some of their
works.
The paintings are on display in the jail’s library. Prisoners don't have
direct access to the facility, which houses 16,000 books in 18
languages. Instead, inmates can choose books from a list and guards
deliver them. According to officials there, the most popular titles are
Harry Potter books and the novels of Agatha Christie.
Inmates are offered English and geology courses along with the art
classes.
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Although the figures vary from week to week, prison authorities say that
about 40 prisoners are currently taking painting classes.
The paintings now on display are just a small sample of the works
produced by the inmates. Some of the other pieces were excluded because
they contained information revealing the identity of the prisoners or
because the images were deemed "aggressive", officials said.
Although the prisoners can’t see the sea from the jail - which is
located just a few meters away from the coast - nor the Caribbean
vegetation that surrounds Guantanamo, many of their works depict islands
with palm trees. Others recall their villages or meals reminiscent of
home, such as this picture of a golden teapot.
Inmates draw and paint with very basic materials, like coloured chalk,
to prevent self-harm or harm to others.
This is not the first artistic initiative for the prison inmates at
Guantanamo. In August 2007, "Poems from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak"
was published. The book of poetry inspired by life inside the camp was
edited by University of Iowa Press.
"Some of the inmates have demonstrated artistic talent and art classes
make them more relaxed" says the prison's cultural advisor, who prefers
not to disclose his name and instead goes by "Zak".
The artwork is displayed without signatures or other identifying
information, and none of the displayed works depict a person.
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