Today we’d like to introduce you to Antonio Espinosa.
Hi Antonio, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
My name is Antonio Espinosa. I am a black Hispanic male of Cuban descent, born and raised in the South Bronx, New York City. My mother came from Cuba in 1959 and I was born two years later. Growing up in the South Bronx was challenging, making sure that I did not succumb to drugs and gangs and violence. My father, who I only met twice in my life, is Cuban as well. As a young man, I felt alone, abandoned, and incomplete without a father figure in my life. My mother did all she could to protect me and provide for me, but the absence of a father left a hole in my life that has been hard to fill. I eventually married. My first son was born. I became a father. Not long after, 9/11 happened. My city became Ground Zero; so I moved my family to the Midwest and I was able to secure a position as a prison guard in 2002 just before my second son was born. Long before I had children of my own, I knew that I would never turn my back on my children. I would be the father I never had. Little did I know, I would have the chance to father, mentor, support, and coach 1,600 men every day at work.
I currently live in Minnesota and work at the Minnesota Correctional Facility at Stillwater. I have spent the last 19 almost 20 years there as a correctional officer. I am not the typical correctional officer. A correctional officer’s job is to ensure security, enforce rules, and maintain order and compliance. While safety is an important part of the job, my purpose each day when I walk into the prison is to inspire hope, healing, and transformation for the incarcerated. In 2018, my friend and colleague, Joseph Gomm, was murdered with a hammer by one of the incarcerated men in our facility. This tragic event made an already dark place, even darker and more divided. In spite of that, or maybe because of that, each day I walk into the prison, even more determined to uplift the incarcerated and to make positive change in my community.
After this tragic death in the facility, everything and everyone changed within the walls of MCF-Stillwater. Something needed to happen to bring this entire community together to rebuild. I started by working with the incarcerated, the administration, and the broader community outside the facility to bring in educational, cultural events. These proved to be successful for both officers and the incarcerated. What else could be done? Soon after, I started looking at other ways to help bring the community together and Art from the Inside (AFTI) was born.
Art From the Inside creates the opportunity for incarcerated artists to have a visual voice through engaging, community-centered exhibitions of their art. Art from the Inside gives incarcerated artists the opportunity to express themselves through art—giving them a visual voice and to inspire community dialogue about the complexities of our criminal justice system.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After Officer Gomm was murdered, the community at Stillwater prison changed, a lot. Prison, even under normal circumstances, can be a dark place. The weight of grief, anger, and hopelessness are still in the air. Whether you work there or reside there, the trauma deeply impacted everyone. Now as we endure the isolation of COVID-19 and the injustice of the murder of George Floyd, my passion to empower the incarcerated and the broader community to experience personal transformation and restoration is stronger than ever. As a senior correctional officer and as a black Hispanic man, working in a predominantly white system, I envision a correctional system that is committed to ensuring people come out of the system better than they went into it. Even after those incarcerated have served their time, paid for their crime, they still face extraordinary barriers when they are released. Structural racism creates a revolving door for many of the men who leave, only to return months or years later. We have to transform everyone, not just the men behind these cell walls.
My vision is to foster the community’s understanding of our shared humanity, to examine the effects of incarceration and the broader criminal justice system, and to inspire actions that support racial and economic justice. Even in my role as a guard, I have been able to adopt new ways of thinking and being. I have been able to affect change within the walls by pushing the limits of what it means to be a guard. With each effort I take on, I have been able to carve creative space into a very structured, rigid, and controlled system that is extremely risk averse and slow to change. I have brought policy makers, advocates, and cultural leaders inside the prison walls.
Now, I am bringing the visual voice of the incarcerated out into the community. Through my latest creative effort, Art from the Inside, I believe art can help us recognize our personal and collective power to change. Through engaging, community-centered exhibits, art is one vehicle that can bring us together to have these difficult conversations. My purpose is to serve as a bridge between the outside and the inside that fosters understanding and empathy in order to activate positive change for those impacted by incarceration and the justice system. We can only change the public’s belief on these issues if we engage with each other and work together to create safe and thriving communities.
I work hard to bring light and hope to a dark place by finding ways to elevate and encourage others. The more I do this, the more I can see the bigger picture. I have to influence systems to change, beyond just one person at a time. If I want a paradigm shift to happen in our community then I must help shape it.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
The mission for Art from the Inside MN is to connect us to our shared humanity, to examine the effects of the criminal justice system, and to inspire actions that support economic and racial justice. As incarcerated artist C. B. puts it, “By giving the incarcerated artists a platform, we encourage redemption narratives and a public belief in second chances.”
Art from the Inside started just weeks before our state shut down in March of 2020, due to the pandemic. Our artists reflect a cross-section of men and women currently serving time at Minnesota Correctional Facilities in Stillwater and Shakopee. They represent a range of cultural backgrounds and ages. Some are serving life sentences, some have already been released since the project started. The majority of the artists are not students in the art class. They are men who love to paint, draw and be creative and express their talents in their cells and purchase their own supplies. The light and excitement this project has brought to the men is visible every day at the institution. Even men not involved in the project express gratitude for the positivity it has brought to the men and serves as a tangible effort that a correctional officer can do their job and support positive transformation of the incarcerated.
Because participants were able to sell their artwork empowered the men to financially support themselves and their families during and post-incarceration. Allowing for the sales of art is a mechanism for economic inclusion for the incarcerated who face many financial barriers during and after incarceration. Art from the Inside MN has proven to be a creative strategy to advance our commitment to transforming lives for a safer Minnesota.
In order to create change we have to build community around the transformation we want to see. ART FROM THE INSIDE MN creates a platform for the incarcerated and provides a structure to engage the public. By engaging stakeholders in the broader community, we grow the community’s understanding, interest, and support to advance strategic goals and advocacy efforts for needed reforms. ART FROM THE INSIDE MN provides an outlet for the men to focus on something positive, therapeutic, and constructive. Partnerships with support organizations can provide financial and human resources to increase transformative programming efforts for the incarcerated during and post-incarceration. The creative process, whether art or writing or knitting, has therapeutic effects and supports healing and restoration needed to ensure safer facilities and increases the likelihood for successful transition upon their release.
Although my project started as a tiny seed to foster hope and healing in the Stillwater community, I had no idea how much this project could impact so many people. My hope was to inspire the men to see that they have worth and can do something positive with the gifts they already possess. Little did I know that this project would mean so much to their family members, their children, and their supporters. Little did I know that the broader community would be so interested in seeing their work and learning more about the effects of incarceration. I am overwhelmed by the number of people and organizations who want to help grow this project because of what it could do to change lives. I can see now the opportunity in front of me, in front of us, to engage the community in supporting the transformation we want to see in the corrections system and for the incarcerated and their families in our state. I want to be a part of leading that change both inside and outside of the prison walls. I invite you to imagine the possibilities with me of what we can do together to change lives!
We are ecstatic to exhibit the work of several incarcerated artists in partnership with the Minnesota Museum of American Art. We are currently exhibiting art in their window galleries through February 20, 2021.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
I’ve learned how vulnerable the incarcerated are, in this isolation and confinement. I have seen the toll it has taken on them and their loved ones on the outside who have been unable to visit their family members during the pandemic. It’s taught me patience and persistence. It’s shown me that when faced with a great challenge, that it pushes me to lean into my creativity and motivates me even more to overcome the obstacles I face. It made me more tenacious and more driven to work through complicated and restrictive situations so I could do what God has called me to do with those incarcerated.
Contact Info:
- Email: artfromtheinsidemn@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.artfromtheinsidemn.org/
- Instagram: @artfromtheinsidemn
- Facebook: @ArtFromTheInsideMN
- Twitter: @AFTIMinnesota
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB44UDTpEUPbK8w3mhEjHTw
Image Credits
Karessa Birdhorse
Lennell Maurice Martin
Roberto Lopez-Rios
A.R.T.
Kelli Herman
Cyrus T.
Amani Fardan
Kimani Beard
