Marking Time: Art in the Age of Mass Incarceration

by Nicole R. Fleetwood

A powerful document of the inner lives and creative visions of men and women rendered invisible by America's prison system.

More than two million people are currently behind bars in the United States. Incarceration not only separates the imprisoned from their families and communities; it also exposes them to shocking levels of deprivation and abuse and subjects them to the arbitrary cruelties of the criminal justice system. Yet, as Nicole Fleetwood reveals, America's prisons are filled with art. Despite the isolation and degradation they experience, the incarcerated are driven to assert their humanity in the face of a system that dehumanizes them.

Based on interviews with currently and formerly incarcerated artists, prison visits, and the author's own family experiences with the penal system, Marking Time shows how the imprisoned turn ordinary objects into elaborate works of art. Working with meager supplies and in the harshest conditions--including solitary confinement--these artists find ways to resist the brutality and depravity that prisons engender. The impact of their art, Fleetwood observes, can be felt far beyond prison walls. Their bold works, many of which are being published for the first time in this volume, have opened new possibilities in American art.

As the movement to transform the country's criminal justice system grows, art provides the imprisoned with a political voice. Their works testify to the economic and racial injustices that underpin American punishment and offer a new vision of freedom for the twenty-first century.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Politics, Art History, The United States Of America, Justice, Academia

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2020

About the author

Nicole R. Fleetwood is Professor of American Studies and Art History at Rutgers University. Her work on art and mass incarceration has been featured at the Aperture Foundation and the Zimmerli Museum of Art, and her exhibitions have been praised by the New York Times, The Nation, the Village Voice, and the New Yorker. She is the uthor of On Racial Icons and the prizewinning Troubling Vision.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throw away your "anti-racist" canon and read this instead. End Prison.

[Piper · Rating 5 out of 5]

This beautiful book is both deeply personal and moving while also academically rigorous and provocative. It shows the purposes and place of art in the lives of incarcerated people, their families and communities. Fleetwood's work also makes clear art's central, irreplaceable role in confronting and dismantling mass incarceration.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is specifically about art created by those who are incarcerated. I saw in it my library's Wowbrary long ago and thought I'd get it to see some good art in unique mediums. Turns out it is SO much more! Nicole Fleetwood (the author; a professor at Rutgers who has done a ton of research on incarceration in America) really does a deep dive into the American prison complex through the lens of these incarcerated individuals. Nothing is sensationalized; it's all very clear reporting on terrible issues. I thought I'd skim the book to see art; instead I have spent the past week reading every page. Fleetwood brings a lot of humanity and clarity into her reporting on the current state of the system, how we got here, and how the arts are beneficial. Along the way you do get to see some amazing art, but I was also struck by her continual argument about whether or not it's even ok for her to reproduce art made by those still incarcerated; that they may not feel they have a choice in granting permission, and how unfair that is. It has really opened my eyes to something that most citizens (such as myself) are so far removed from. I've never even been near a prison, let alone in one. Highly recommended, especially for those who have an interest in social justice.

[Caitlin Cooner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for my thesis :)

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written book, but the the pictures are small, grainy, and look like pictures of pictures on cheap paper. Better photography with a higher resolution, better quality paper, and more pictures would've made a stronger point, especially if the book is supposed to be about art. It is a good book about mass incarceration, with a few grainy pictures.

[Scott Neigh]

A scholarly look at the process and products of incarcerated artists in the United States, and to a lesser extent some of their non- and formerly-incarcerated allies. Long and dense but not difficult, so I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to read. Fascinating, well put together, and very relevant (if in a somewhat oblique way) to some things I'm starting to work on in earnest.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful, moving achievement in both art historical/visual culture scholarship and advocacy for justice. Highly recommended to academic and non-academic readers alike.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fleetwood takes up carceral theory in this text on art that is also about her own healing.

[Beatrice · Rating 5 out of 5]

An art historical documentation of, well, exactly what it says: art in the age of mass incarceration. Informative like a textbook, moving like art. Highly recommended!

[Bella Fiorucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was the first book i read as part of my research for this year and honestly it was so amazing and well-done id recommend it to anyone

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

didn’t want to put it down. necessary read

[Roy Kenagy]

DMPL EXAMINED 2024_02_08. HISTORY AND (MOSTLY) SOCIOLOGY OF INCARCIAL ART. EXCCELLENT. BUT NOT DIRECTLY USEFUL FOR PERSONS. EXAMPLES OF FLOURISHING IN HOSTILE ENVIRONMENTS?

[Alicia]

Research for a term paper on socially engaged art in American prisons.