These facts make me feel desperate and so sad.* I often think about the plight of the prisoners and the feeling that they are now trapped for life in a system which cannot “rehabilitate” or “correct” the real problems; Poverty, racism, social injustice.
I have two younger cousins who were incarcerated as minors. I think about how their sentences and records, and the experience of being incarcerated will affect their lives forever.
I have not visited them due to distance mostly, but it is such an insane barrier even without physical distance. The emotional and social distancing or prisoners from the public and their families is so harmful.
About Eric Okdeh
Eric Okdeh is a Philadelphia based muralist, who has been creating public art since 1998. After receiving his BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art, Eric chose to focus on mural work exclusively. Since 2002, in addition to his commissioned work, Eric has taught mural making classes to children and teens throughout the city as well as inmates at SCI Graterford Prison. The classes exist as leadership, teamwork, and skill building exercises which culminate in major mural projects.
In an attempt to capture these significant community collaborations and interactions, Eric has developed this website and mural blog. The projects are journalized and documented in photographs and video clips to lend outside observers insight into the processes by which his murals come about.
Eric has over 65 commissions throughout the city of Philadelphia and one in Seville, Spain. He has participated in mural projects in Tucson, Arizona and Los Angeles. His work is featured in four books about public and Mural art.