Artist Statement

Injustice Served

Piper Leone

I studied and presented the human right of "Innocent Until Proven Guilty." I chose this because many people spend crucial years of their life in jail or on death row. So this inspired me to stand up to this unfair and unnecessary act. 

I created my piece with a pencil, charcoal, paper, a lighter, and coffee. My techniques included shading, burning the edges of the paper, and dipping the paper into the coffee for a more distressed look. My piece shows a judge's gavel made up of names. These names are just a few of the thousand that have been wrongfully imprisoned. They range from 10-47 years spent in prison or on trial. The font size represents the amount of time that person spent in jail. Not all names are entirely shown to focus more on the severity of this issue. In the piece's background, you will see jail bars and hands. These represent people and how much they want to fight for justice but are unable.

This art piece aims to show people how crucial of a problem this is. One of the things inspiring me to focus on this human right is the Central Park 5 case. This extremely disgraceful event unjustifiably stole childhoods away from five innocent kids ranging from 10-16 years of age. These black and Hispanic kids were charged with assaulting a woman. They then had to spend 6-12 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit until a prison inmate confessed to this horrid act. Sadly, these people are few of many in the more than 20,000 people wrongfully convicted every year in America. 

When people look at this piece, I hope they are intrigued by it; I want those who look at this piece to feel the helplessness and despair of the people who this act affects. I want to shine a light on this terrible and needless issue. It is crucial that the public sees how severe this problem is and what will become of it if nothing is said or done about it. That is why I named the piece "Injustice Served." I want to show that the people who could be helping our community thrive are being wrongfully convicted, while the people who deteriorate our public are continuing to threaten its' integrity. What could these people have become if it weren't for their conviction?