For Immediate Release: November 6, 2007
Contact: Joe Brown (415) 557-4512
jbrown@sfpl.org
San Francisco Public Library
Premieres Multimedia Exhibition
Who We Are: Essays and Photographs of
Students at San Quentin State Prison
Making its public premiere at the Jewett Gallery at the Main Library, the exhibition Who We Are shares essays and photographs of men in college at San Quentin State Prison. On view Nov. 10-Jan. 20, this exhibition presents a literary harvest of the San Quentin College Program, the only on-site, degree-granting higher education program in California’s prison system.
Photographs by Heather Rowley show everyday scenes from San Quentin, including students preparing for class, participating in poetry slams and for some, graduating with an associate degree. The accompanying student-written essays traverse wide-ranging subjects from the loss of loved ones, raising children and becoming artists. These essays also provide rare first-hand accounts of their
experiences that add insight into the value of higher education programs in prisons. “The program has had an enormous impact on how my family [views] me as a person,” says one student. “They learned that even in prison I have not let my mistake define who I am.”
Related programs include a panel discussion, Who We Are: A Conversation, at 6 p.m. on Nov. 13 in the Koret Auditorium at the Main Library. Speakers including Vernell Crittendon, former Public Information Officer of San Quentin; Joe Loya, author of The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber; and photographer Joseph Rodriguez
(East Side Stories: Gang Life in East L.A) will discuss the impact of imprisonment upon the individuals, the community and on our culture. The program will be moderated by Jennifer Scaife, Program Director of the Prison University Project.
After its stay at the Library, the exhibition will travel to gallery spaces throughout California, and will eventually find its permanent home at San Quentin State Prison, where the photographs and essays may be viewed in the Education building and prison library. This exhibition is made possible, in part, by a grant from the California Council for the Humanities
as part of the Council’s statewide California Stories Initiative and local program funding is supported by Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Who We Are is organized by the Prison University Project.
Heather Rowley and Jennifer Scaife are available for selected interviews; photographs and MP3 audiofiles from the exhibition are available on request.
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