About Pablo Mendoza

Pablo Mendoza is a proud father and lifelong student. He is a staunch advocate for the poor and disenfranchised with an eye towards a more equitable tomorrow. Pablo is a prison abolitionist who struggles against the privileges imbued upon him by society.  Pablo is directly impacted having served 22 years within the Illinois Department of Corrections. He’s currently a director with the Prison + Neighborhood Art/Education Project, Walls Turned Sideways. He is also involved with several other campaigns throughout the state including: University of Illinois Education Justice Project Reentry Guide Initiative; Freedom To Learn Campaign; Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison; Illinois Reentry Alliance for Justice; Fully Free Campaign; and others.

Art inspired by Faith Ringgold, United States of Attica, 1972.

Artist Statement:

I relied on the traditional techniques I developed to create art on the inside. I don’t possess many of the art pieces necessary for me to actually create art. I would attribute that to monetary reasons and add the fact that I currently exist to monitor and respond to emails.

I only worked with paints (Golden acrylics) and value brushes. These tools mirror those I was afforded on occasion while incarcerated. It was important for me to feel the isolation created by censorship. Having lived this isolation, it was important for me to communicate the idea of limitation. This was my form of resistance and I continue to resist by making myself vulnerable to expose the barbarism embedded in our justice system.

I utilized 3 colors for the map. Those 3 colors are an homage to the scale and tactic ex-president George W. Bush used to spook the population of this country into forfeiting their rights in the name of a false sense of security: the color coded terror alerts.

I used muted colors and glazed over the image of a prison door with a man gagged by the American flag. The reason for doing so is to give the picture the same effects one feels inside of prison. Incarcerated people are under psychological attack regularly. Their mood is suppressed and/or manipulated by the use of such colors too. These colors are meant to be painful and dull people down. Folks live experiencing this violence daily, even color is censored!

Visual Description: Inspired by Faith Ringgold’s 1972 poster “United States of Attica”, this painting depicts the United States map and emphasizes the amount of banned books in each state. This painting is one of three interpretations of the original map showcased in this exhibition. 

Using the colors red, orange, and yellow to determine approximate amounts of banned books per state, the USA map is placed in contrast to the faded colors of gray and pink in the background. On the lower left part of the map, faded in the background, is an image of a person gagged by a USA flag in their mouth.