Redemption From Within

Redemption From Within:
The Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project

Now On View - 12 Quilts

Kenya B. Alkebu, Maureen Kelleher
Go Tell it on the Mountain, 2016
Cotton fabric, and Paint on cotton fabric

In 1997, inmates serving life sentences at Angola Prison in Louisiana created a hospice program to care for the dying men among them. To raise money for the program, the inmate volunteers taught themselves how to make quilts. In 2012, one of these hospice volunteers, Kenya Baleech Alkebu, and his long-time friend and pen pal, Maureen Kelleher, a private investigator who is also a quilter, founded the Social Justice Collaboration Quilts Project.

The Project informs the public of the existence of The Angola Hospice Program, supports artists who work behind prison walls, and gives voice to the political consciousness of the imprisoned and free quilters. The project aims to create a bridge of communication between inmates and free persons, in the hope that those behind bars will not be forgotten by “the outside world.” The Project, via the collaborative quilt making process, supports art behind prison walls, provides a platform for the prisoners to express themselves, and to exchange ideas and creativity with the world.