FREEDOM SONG –
Oct. 18, 2021 – Seeing the artwork of incarcerated people exhibited in the opera house lobby exceeded Thomason-Redus’s hopes. “It’s so thoughtful and powerful and creative and expressive,” he exclaimed. “Some notion was discussed about putting barbed wire on the opera wall. That’s not necessary — look at any of these images, and you immediately get what this is about.”
A group of around 250 people attending an upcoming performance will include participants in programs that serve imprisoned people and their families as well as arts programs for students. Artists from the Prison Arts Project who are no longer incarcerated will also come to the opera.
“I’m looking forward to seeing inclusivity in an institution not known for it,” Thomason-Redus noted.
Isiah Daniels, who now lives in San Jose and works as a concrete finisher at the Google plant, will be there, standing by his painting, “Old Folsom (My Abyss),” during the intermission.
“Do you think I’m going to miss that?” he asked. “I want to feel the buzz. I want to experience something I never have before.”
