Hope As Ephemerality by Shane Daly
Medium: Colored pencil on black drawing paper
Size: 12 in x 9 in
Artist statement: “Try as I might, the nearest I can experience hope in here is as an entity with an ephemeral nature. It’s like I can feel this phoenix representing the promise of my freedom around me, but when I reach for it, it just eludes my grasp. It evaporates between my fingers, making me feel like a fool to have thought it was ever there at all. Some days it seems like all around me there are those getting paroled, winning appeals, benefiting from critically important legislation. I feel guilty inside because my joy for them is internally tempered by a voice that wonders if it will ever be my turn. When “justice” isn’t justice, when “truth” is irrelevant, when one’s humanity is subjugated to politics & the financial priority of the prison industrial complex, how can hope ever be anything but an ephemerality?”
Shane is on the Prison Advisory Board of Let’s Get Free
