Freedom & Vision

I was inspired to paint the piece “Socially Loving” by all of the issue that COVID has presented. There is an abundance of issues that has driven us to the peak of our passions including social injustice, loss of loved ones, fear of infection, trying to survive, and the overwhelming desire to be heard. I just don't want us to forget in the midst of every thing the love that we NEED to have for each other. We have shown that our social frustration spill over, so let us try the same approach in socially loving.

My name is Elizabeth Lozano. I’ve been incarcerated going on 27 years, sentenced to juvenile life without parole. I’ve used this time to further my higher education and leveling up through various certifications. Two of the things I’m most passionate about are prison reform/restorative justice, and art. Through art I can express myself and left my soul speak in love…for when it’s all said and done and I go to my next journey all I’ll take with me is the love that I received, and all I’ll leave behind is the LOVE I GAVE.

I am Jason Perry the youngest of five children. I was raised by a single Mother in Compton California. Confused by my surroundings at a very young age, I realized I could use my art to escape from my reality. I wanted to express the things I had seen, the feelings that I felt so I began to write, to draw and paint and I never stopped. My art comes from a place of anguish and love. The anguish is from the brutality that I see inflicted on my people. But, the love is the beauty that I see in those very same people. This is the inspiration to continue my expressions.

COVID -19 has had a profound affect on unveiling many different things that are happening with the human condition. One of them is, when you lock someone in a room their true self is going to come out. Two in terms of creating, it has had created the ability, at least for me, to really do some deep reflection on all these things that are starting to arise in our society. Institutional racism, we are starting to see it manifest strongly out there [outside prison] and in here. The rocket pieces are about prison and what the moment felt like, watching those that have the ability to leave, leave prison during COVID-19. What they leave behind is this surreal looking world that is in a state of chaos.

I am not sure exactly at what age I first picked up my first colored pencil or crayon. As far as I can remember I have been doing art and creating in my own world. I knew at a young age I wanted to be an artist. My life was surrounded by darkness submerged in Domestic Violence, and it was only my art that saved me and brought me to life again. So, my art, drawing & painting, fine art, portraits, and murals became an intricate part of my life and remains my inspiration today. Art healed me and brought me from some very dark places in my life’s journey. My expressions of art comes from the core of my being, and it gives me wholeness and purpose to who I am and the journey I walk each day.

Today, I am not just living, but I am thriving as well! Along with hard struggles, tears, sweat, sorrow, loss, and pain come rewards, joy, laughter, fulfillment, exhilaration, triumphs, new and old friendships, and above all, love connecting us all. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE and stand for what you believe in. Join forces with positive, like-minded people, and together we can stand against the storms and climb those hard-treacherous mountains together.

I started off as a comic book artist and creator, having created over 69 graphic novels during my 23 years of incarceration, yet having witnessed and felt systematic injustice on an unparalleled scale. America’s mass incarceration of disenfranchised and marginalized people of color pushed me towards “art-ivism” and illustrated journalism in 2017. I started the Protest Poster Series Project in which I have donated to nonprofit organizations and a host of social justice activists such as Dr. Cornal West and philanthropist Agnes Gund to name a few.

There are times when I’ve actually wondered if any of my work would be receive or get any recognition. Now my spirit is renewed and I shall strive to maintain a high level of quality work now and in the future. My art is for the world to see, the wind blowing the trees. The perfection of beauty in one’s eyes, only you can see, frees me. I enjoy the peace I find when I’m doing art. I had been incarcerated for 45 years and am now a free man. I blend block printing with pointillism to create vivid portraits. My artwork has been featured in several exhibits and galleries including the Tides Thoreau Center for Sustainability (2015): On the Line: Artwork from San Quentin Prison Art Project at Jewett Gallery (2013); Rotunda Gallery, Hearst Art Gallery, Wamock Fine Arts Gallery among others. My piece, Restore Justice was recently featured in The Washington Post. My work is now hanging at the MoMA PS1 and the MoAD in San Francisco.