34 Prison Chronicles.
Prison Chronicles in the Classroom
This is Prison Chronicle’s third semester working in a high school classroom. This time, the professor shared Samuel’s writings with the students, and they were asked to respond through photography. Working in groups, the students collaborated to develop concepts that expressed their understanding of Samuel’s story.
Here are some of the powerful works that emerged from this session!
Some writing that went with the images:
The Letters
(Above: Top Right Image)
In my group, we had several ideas. The one that we landed was a photo with the letters. My photo represents Samuel’s life in solitude. The letter in the picture shows him reading one of the most meaningful messages Magida sent him. The beer and cigarettes in the image symbolize Samuel’s past life before prison, his time in a gang and the memories of his old friends. The blood on the letter represents his deep regrets and mourning for the people and choices he left behind during his time in solitude.
Soggy Reflections
(Above: Bottom Center Image)
The title “Soggy Reflections” means them reflecting on their past which is filled with sadness, and the paper is wet and “soggy” from all their tears. Magida and Samuel exchanged letters to each other filled with emotions and deep meanings of what their childhood was like, and what they have gone through. I feel like the flowers in the photo demonstrate the beauty of their relationship, and the support given to each other. The seeds demonstrate their relationship and how they have helped each other, the courage from both of them to open up to one another about their struggles as strangers, because the stages of dandelions go from a flower bud, something closed off from everything in its own shell, to blooming to something more colorful and fluffy.
The flowers as well demonstrate the good things from their childhood, like Magida’s relationship with her mom and siblings, and Samuel’s relationship with his dad, who tried steering him away from his lifestyle of drugs and gangs. The crumpled paper with red dots and puddles is about all the unheard stories and drowning in feelings from their past involvement in violence and abuse creating a crumply paper. They connect with each other because they both have gone through bad experiences with close individuals to them, the threats and bad situations they ended up with. It is for the positives and negatives of their lives, and knowing that more good things will come in the future.
The photo is also filled with Samuel’s family life, reflections of his past of being involved in gangs and drugs at such a young age, and the lack of good role models he had to look up to. What his experience in prison looks like from an inside view of the environment. The soggyness of the traumatic experiences both of them had to experience as young individuals. The whole piece is just the beauty of Magida, a random stranger to Samuel, reaching out to him and hearing about his story and telling him about her stories as well. The flowers are artistic and special like Magida’s art, and Samuel’s poems.
Untitled
(Above: Bottom Left Image)
The photo is meant to represent two different sides of someone’s life. The side they want to be on, and the side they’re on. In this photo, I was Samuel at a point in his young adult life. His life was not what he wanted it to be. It was bleak and empty. I feel like a lot of us can relate to that, especially in high school. Not wanting to be where we are but not necessarily knowing where we want to be. This photo is meant to show the feeling of longing but also of being stuck.
And then there is the other side of the photo. A side where Samuel is free to write, to do what he is passionate about. A side where he knows more things about himself, where he has gone on a whole journey of self discovery.
Reach out if you would like to introduce Prison Chronicles into your classroom!
prisonchroniclesproject@gmail.com