“I think that [students] are the seeds of hope…[they] are leaders. It’s important to me that when they go out in the world…[they will] be conscious of what incarceration is, and the impact it has some black and brown communities, especially in poor communities. Hopefully that would encourage [them] to bring about policies that are more beneficial to black and brown people rather than [ones that hurt] them,” Hector “Bori” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez was incarcerated for 27 years and two months. During that time, he participated in several educational programs, such as Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), an organization that teaches incarcerated individuals different art forms. Rodriguez reflected on his childhood, spirit and the human condition by creating art using watercolor, ink, acrylic and other discarded items. Several of his art pieces, such as “Sustento de Espiritu” and “Nature Echoes”, are displayed outside of the Claudia Boettcher Theater (CBT) along with other formerly incarcerated and incarcerated individuals’ artwork.
On Monday, April 7, Rodriguez visited Masters to speak to students during Morning Meeting about his journey from early childhood to incarceration joining the RTA program. He also visited classes, such as a Spanish and AP Art and Design class, where he continued speaking about his experience in prison, the importance of higher education and the arts. In the AP Art and Design class, taught by Upper School Visual Arts Chair Cheryl Hajjar, students often participate in Harkness discussions in which they share their artwork with the class and ask for feedback. When Rodriguez visited, he had the opportunity to join the discussion and view students’ work. Hajjar said that while most students would make comments about their peers’ artwork and point out areas that may need more attention, Rodriguez would ask the students questions that made them think about what they created and how they created it much more deeply.
Much of Rodriguez’s artwork focuses on ecofeminism, incarceration and Caribbean images that reflect his childhood memories and views of society.
In a broadcast episode of Wave farm, Rodriguez discusses the different family members that raised him during his childhood. When Rodriguez was four, his mother left him in Puerto Rico after her father gave her the option to work on a U.S. farm. Rodriguez then lived briefly with his grandfather, who passed away soon after. He was then adopted by his aunt, who cared for him and taught him about table manners, etiquette and how to behave around people before she died of breast cancer two years later.
Eventually, his uncle from Philadelphia took him in. While living with his uncle, Rodriguez said he was thrown into a completely different world. His uncle was abusive to his wife and children and got eight-year-old Rodriguez involved in selling drugs. He also did not tolerate any of his family members being bullied, and raised Rodriguez to believe that hurting other people was the only way to make others respect him. Rodriguez said his childhood of hardship and instability led him to feel resentment towards his mother, since she never made an attempt to contact Rodriguez after she abandoned him.
Once he realized he didn’t want to resolve everything through violence, Rodriguez said he began looking for programs in prison that would help him articulate his thoughts and express himself in ways he could not while growing up. A parenting program he joined taught him that parents usually raise their child based on how they were raised, making him realize he had to forgive his mother for leaving him as a young boy. His mother, who had suffered abuse as child, gave birth to Rodriguez at age 19; his father was 52 at the time. Rodriguez said that because of his mother’s traumatic experiences, he likes to paint images of his mother and other female family members in peaceful environments in nature, to represent the peace he wishes they could experience.
He further discusses the story behind his art, writing and journey on his website, Boricreates: “When I started creating art, I aimed to depict treasured childhood moments with my mother in the Puerto Rican countryside. As time passed, my art evolved to address the struggles faced by the women in my family within a patriarchal culture and religious confines. I began portraying female figures as sturdy trees, lively flowers, and majestic mountains, representing beauty, strength, and resilience.”
Although Rodriguez had created art before, his artistic development expanded significantly during his incarceration, where he encountered new techniques and platforms for creation. In prison, he started by using colored pencils to create simple drawings. Then, after moving to Green Haven correctional facility, he was introduced to a new art form, leather making, at a hobby shop that was set up in the institution.
Eventually, Rodriguez joined RTA after expressing interest in painting a backdrop of a production that was being organized in the facility by RTA. RTA offers classes in theater, dance, music, writing and visual arts. While Rodriguez did not participate in the visual arts classes offered by RTA, the classes were another way in which many individuals discovered art for the first time.
Hajjar has worked with RTA to teach visual arts classes to incarcerated people since 2007. In her classes, she said she tries to follow a curriculum that replicates a college art course. This includes basic foundational lessons about drawing, color theory and painting.
Through the writing, art and theater classes offered by RTA, incarcerated individuals are given the opportunity to develop their identities and help process what is happening in their world.
“Hector speaks beautifully about the choices that he made. After making a whole series of really bad choices, at one point he really started making choices in his favor to develop himself as a human,” Hajjar said. “[Hector will] chuckle when he talks now about how he’s 50 years old and he’s going for his master’s degree for the first time, but what’s wrong with that?”
In addition to RTA classes, incarcerated individuals are also presented with education opportunities through programs such as the Bard Prison Initiative, a program that brings Bard College courses to prisons to give individuals an opportunity to receive a higher education while incarcerated. By reflecting on their past actions and character, it is easier for individuals to focus on their education.
“Education is key. Education is hugely important, whether you’re studying visual art, music, economics, biology, education is a kind of freedom,” Hajjar said.
As RTA shows, with the 1.8 million people incarcerated in the U.S., supporting programs that focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment for individuals in prisons is more beneficial to their personal growth.
“What RTA did for me was that it allowed me the space to look within [myself], to explore the different things that were going inside of me, in a safe space with a group of people that were like minded. The volunteers that were coming in [the prison], their human touch, like their kindness, their empathy, and things like that, kind of modeled something for me that I didn’t experience before,” Rodriguez said.
