Janie Paul Curates Exhibition at Flint Institute of Arts

Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emerita Janie Paul is the curator of Beyond Survival: Works on Paper by Artists Incarcerated in Michigan Prisons, an exhibition on view at the Flint Institute of Arts through September 14.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with approximately 2.2 million incarcerated individuals. About 33,000 people are currently in Michigan prisons. Beyond Survival: Works by Artists Incarcerated in Michigan is a collective statement of resistance to erasure and dehumanization. In these drawings, paintings, and sculptures made with paper and simple materials, artists use creative methods to expose the harsh realities of incarceration and imagine life beyond prison. Artists reveal a longing for home and family, joy and beauty, connections to nature, flights of the imagination, and journeys toward freedom. These acts of creation — carried out in confined spaces with limited materials — are a form of truth-telling and liberation, made despite and in direct response to these conditions.

These works were produced over the last 27 years with the support of The Annual Exhibitions of Artists in Michigan Prisons, a project of the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan. 

Beyond Survival: Works on Paper by Artists Incarcerated in Michigan Prisons
Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 East Kearsley Street, Flint, Michigan 48503
Exhibition Dates: May 30- September 14, 2025
Hours: Mon-Thurs 10 – 5; Friday 10 – 8; Saturday 10 – 5; Sunday 1 – 5