In a rare moment of beauty at Guantánamo Bay, detainees managed to win themselves the rights to own and control their own artwork.
A recent Pentagon ruling reversed a previous decision that blocked Guantánamo Bay prisoners from exhibiting paintings that were made during their imprisonment.
Now, outgoing inmates will be allowed to take a “practicable quantity of their art” with them, paintings and sketches they made during the Art from Guantánamo project. Twenty of 34 who participated are now slated for release.
The original decision came after a collection of 36 paintings called “Ode to the Sea” were exhibited at New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice back in 2017. Many were available for purchase through the detainees’ lawyers.
Last October, seven previous detainees and 1 current inmate published a letter calling on President Biden to allow them possession and distribution of their art.
“Art from Guantánamo became part of our lives and of who we are,” the prisoners jointly wrote. “It was born from the ordeal we lived through. Each painting holds moments of our lives, secrets, tears, pain, and hope. Our artworks are parts of ourselves. We are still not free while parts of us are still imprisoned at Guantánamo.”
The State Dept. also received a letter from the UN saying the art ban “contravene[s] the rights to free artistic expression, to take part in cultural life, and to benefit from the protection of moral and material benefits resulting from artistic production.
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“Painting makes me feel as if I am embracing the universe…,” wrote Ghaleb Al-Bihani, a Yemeni imprisoned without charge for 15 years before being released in 2017 to Oman, where he now teaches painting.
“I also see things around me as if they were paintings, which gives me the sense of a beautiful life.”
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During his indefinite detention, Al-Bihani learned English and Spanish, developed his GED proficiency, educated himself about his diabetes, and tried to cope with his anxiety and depression through exercise and yoga. In the last few years of his detention, he created an incredible collection of over one hundred paintings and drawings.
Another who joined Art from Guantánamo, Khalid Qasim, spent his time constructing artificial canvasses from the materials he could find in prison, including sand from the exercise yard and coffee grounds.
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“imprisoned without charge for 15 years before being released in 2017”. He is an inspiration for not turning to a life of hate in spite of his dreadful circumstances.