“This was a wonderful opportunity to tell how my support system came about so that those on the outside looking to make a difference in the life of an incarcerated individual can get an idea on how to start helping. Thanks to @midwestbooks2p and Chicago Anarchist Skillshare for inviting me to speak alongside Hybachi LeMar and Victor Puertas.”
Follow Juan Carlos Hernandez on Instagram: @jch_convictedart
Juan Carlos Hernandez K84686
2600 N Brinton Ave
Dixon, IL 61021
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Greetings, fellow comrades, and thank you for tuning in to this momentous evening. Today, we have done the impossible. We have hijacked the airway so that our voices might be heard. Oh, we didn’t hijack the airway? Okay. Cool. Nobody’s going to jail tonight, and our voices will still be heard!
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Juan Hernandez, and I am an incarcerated artist and published author. We’re going to talk about prison support from my personal experience.
I say personal experience because this topic means different things to different individuals. For example, to some, having someone who writes them, access their calls, and send them commissary money, is all the prisoner support they need, and that’s fine. Each person does their time the way that they really can best for them. Or for a lack of a better explanation, maybe that’s all the support system is capable of doing by no fault to either party. I want to talk about the development of my support system so that everyone listening who has a loved one incarcerated can get an idea of how to further the support for that individual and possibly change his life, as mine has.
As I mentioned before, I am an artist. I began drawing and painting as a means to gain some sort of finance so that I wouldn’t be burdening my family. I was happy trading art for commissary and not knowing the full potential of my capabilities until one person on the outside will saw my potential and decide to help out. Her name is Jacq, and at the time, she was a volunteer at Midwest Books to Prisoners.
We developed the friendship which began with letters talking about books, civil rights theaters, and revolutionary movements. During that time, Midwest Books to Prisoners have received some blow during by the same lawyer who represented Fred Hampton’s family and suede to the Chicago Police Department for their vicious role in his murder. Jacq asked if I wanted a copy, and I said yes. When I received this book, it was signed by the author, Jeffrey Haas, and there was a personal message in there too. I was all surprised by the gift, so as a way of thanking Mr. Haas, I drew a portrait of Fred Hampton and sent it to Jacq, asking if she would give it to him. He found the portrait and created a name, the people’s artist, which warmed to my heart.
Shortly after this, Jacq asked if I’d be interested in showing some of our in an event that they were having at Midwest Books Prisoners. The event was Running Down the Walls, and I said, of course. I painted portraits of revolutionary leaders like Bobby Seale, Malcolm X, and others to be displayed and viewed by the attendees.
This is my first solo exhibit without knowing it, which I find kind of funny looking back how things played out. After the event, Jacq asked if it would be okay for her to put my art up on a site to see if people would be interested in purchasing commissioned portraits for me. I’ve had the idea to do it for a very long time, but never had anyone willing to do it for me. Unfortunately, only one person reached out to me for a commission. Fortunately, that one person was what was missing in my life, to transform me into something I never thought was possible.
My one and only commission came from someone named Mai who lived out of New York. She wrote me a letter with a photo of a couple cats she was co fostering with a roommate and said she planned on gifting the portraits to her. I answered back, thanking her, and ever since then, we kept in contact in communication, becoming a great friend. When we were when we were first starting to get to know one another, she told me she was an editor, which I found very impressive. I remember telling her I once wrote a short story and asked if she would edit it for me. She agreed and I mailed it out to her. When she received it, she asked if it would be okay for her to shop it around and see if it would get published, and I said that would be fine. I really liked my short story and originally wrote it for a friend and never thinking that someone would publish it. But a few days after she shopped it around, the unthinkable happened, and someone actually published it and paid me a $100 for a story that was sitting in my property box for 3 years.
I was so excited that I asked her if I was now a published author, and she said yes. I couldn’t believe it – a published author. That one event brought so much motivation, desire, and possibility in my life that I haven’t stopped writing since. I now publish more writing than I can remember and made it a goal to write a book in the coming year. If you’re listening, have someone on the inside who likes to write – please support them by shopping some of their stories on Google by searching publishers, newsletters, magazines, zines, looking for stories. Even if a publisher doesn’t pay, I’m sure that having a word published will still put a smile on their faces and they read their story in newsletters.
The first time Mai asked me if I wanted to be in an art gallery, it took me by surprise. She said she was online and came across Angelica Kauffman Gallery asking artists to sign for a solo exhibition, but there was one problem. They only do Micro Art. Neither of us knew what Micro Art was, so she looked it up, which wasn’t very helpful. So she then saw the art of previous exhibitors on their gallery. My main thing was portraits, so I wasn’t sure if I made them so small. So I practiced on one that was 2 by 3 inches, and it came out just fine. I told Mai that I was capable of doing Micro Portrait and see what all we had to submit to get a spot for the exhibition. Neither of us knew anything about the art world. So come to find out that I needed an artist statement, a bio, a theme for the exhibit, and a social media of which I had none. I didn’t even know what artist statement was or how to write one. She had to Google all the info and send it to me.
She also opened up an Instagram account for me, and we were ready to submit for a solo exhibition. When I submitted the requirements needed, there was a little concern by the curator named Luther, due to my incarceration, but after talking about her staff and Mai, she agreed to give me a spot in the exhibition.
Again, I drew micro portraits of revolutionary leaders. My girlfriend also helped out and made tiny frames for online portraits. If you go look at my Instagram at @jch_convictedart, you’ll find photos and reels of the exhibition. You’ll also see that name Luther is now a great supporter and follower of all my work, which brings me great joy. You’ll have to pay you’ll have to pay close attention to the reel. Otherwise, I won’t even know that the portraits are actually Micro Art, because Shane Luther did a great job during the show. She even had little Lego people standing around looking at the art.
That happened in 2022. And since then, I’ve had my art in a museum, exhibiting in numerous gatherings across the world including Kassel, Germany. I’ve had more solo exhibits, interviews, a residency, won a grant, been in magazines, calendars, auctioned off free commissions for nonprofits – and new opportunities open up with each project.
For example, I’m currently illustrating a book for an author now. I’m in an exhibit in Open Sky Art gallery located in California. I just did a panel for incarcerated scholars a couple of days ago. Today, I got published in Lucky Jefferson in their issue called Foráneo, and have two other publications coming out next month. And as you can see, I’m even on the airwaves now.
So this is how my support system was formed. It only takes one Google search to find an opportunity to in creating a network of support and events. One story that gets published to become an incarcerated author, and one drawing to become an incarcerated artist. You, a listener on the outside, have the power to transform the lives of individuals incarcerated, and I plead you that you use that power.
Again, I recommend you go look at my Instagram at @jch_convictedart to get ideas of what you can do to help your loved one behind bars. Or if you don’t have anyone, then find one. Go volunteer at Midwest Books to Prisoners, and if anyone incarcerated who writes asking similar books that you like, then write them a letter. That’s how Jacq and I built a wonderful friendship.
Thank you all for listening for listening in. And if you have any questions, comments, you can reach out to me. Thanks.
