ANSWERS WITHOUT WORDS
Free Mind Collective
Written correspondence to and from prison is common, but exchange of imagery less so. Answers Without Words (AWW) forges an exchange between photographers across the globe and incarcerated artists in Columbia River Correctional Institution (CRCI) in Portland, Oregon. Conceived by the Free Mind Collective (Anke Schüttler and CRCI artists), AWW stokes curiosity and creativity behind bars, builds connection through photos, and frames personal inside-perspectives in order to educate outside publics.
The CRCI artists formulated questions for people living in foreign nations. Responding imagemakers made photographs to answer the queries. Later, in weekly workshops, the men at CRCI made photographs in reply to counter- questions from their new collaborators outside. In so doing, they describe the details of their daily lives and long- term hopes.
The Free Mind Collective thinks of the process as a slow, deliberate and analogue version of online search. Here, however, inquiry is met with considered and carefully authored response as opposed to the impersonal, algorithm- driven (and sometimes damaging) returns of internet query.
In its process, AWW focuses on one person at a time. In its product, AWW delivers images to raise awareness of mass incarceration. The call-and-response challenges prisoners’ expectations (and even stereotypes) of foreign countries while allowing them to dispel some of the hard clichés placed on them as convicted individuals.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Free Mind Collective
The Free Mind Collective was created in 2018 at Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland, Oregon, by members of the still running program Columbia River Creative Initiatives www.crci.art. Founding members were Tom Price, J Barclay, Richard Lunduist, Musonda Mwango, Joshua Wright, Ben Hall, Ivan Jaramillo, Justin FinCannon, Joey Lucero and Donsha Jackson in collaboration with Anke Schüttler. Other collaborators in Answers Without Words were Quandrell Dumas, Donald Ray Tunis, Daniel Bluestein, Michael Brown, Dave Alberts, Ben Turanski, Benjamin Stiller, Mario Perez, Sean Figueras, Jake Diepenbrock, Phillip Odom, Larry Loftin, Nathan Eiland, Judas Vanelli Callentano, Guy Snook, Stephan Hartley, Chad Daggy and Adam Olson.
Photographers from all over the world in dialogue with the artists were Elsa Leydier, Maria Jauregui Ponte, Torsten Schumann, Monika Sala, Mischa Christen, Isabel Kiesewetter, Anna Drvnik, Maren Winkler, Øyvin Hjelmen, Sara Lamens, Birgit Krause, Tay Kay Chin, Kathleen McIntyre, Dafna Talmon, Alice Myers, Gemma-Rose Turnbull and Carolina Magnin.
Concept and organization by Anke Schüttler.
