The Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) is a youth-led, intergenerational movement to end youth incarceration. Our holistic approach supports young people impacted by the criminal legal system to express themselves creatively, to grow as leaders and to develop transformative possibilities in their communities and beyond. Together we implement alternatives for responding to harm and violence in Philadelphia and across the country while building towards our vision of a world without incarceration.
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In 2019, I began working with the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) as an art and poetry workshop facilitator working with kids who are charged and incarcerated as adults. In 2020, I joined staff as the Creative Arts Coordinator.
Title: I Am Not A Number
Author/Artist: Various Artists*
Publisher: self-published by the Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP)
Date / Year Published: 2024
Info:
I Am Not A Number catalogs work by 42 artists created through visual art and writing programs facilitated by YASP in Philadelphia’s adult jails from 2006-2023. The culmination is 220 pages of honest, powerful, challenging and inspiring works by 42 artists.
The Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) is a youth-led, intergenerational organization fighting to end direct file (the practice of automatically prosecuting young people in adult court) and youth incarceration as a whole. YASP believes in a holistic approach towards abolition and recognizes the importance of creative expression in imagining transformative responses to harm and violence.
*Writers and Artists featured in I Am Not A Number, in alphabetical order:
Kendall Anderson
Zachary Banks
William Bentley
Jetson Cruz
Prince Davis
Julian Dent
Tyquail Duffy
Azzim Dukes
Malik Dunmore
Joshua Glenn
Sean Gordine
Karim Grant
Karonn Greenwood
David Harrington
Thomas Harrington
Antonio Inostroza
Quamire Johnson
Vanesha Langley
My Le
Nasir Mcnamee
Jonathan Melendez
Tot Metz
Everett Munroe
Malik Parker
Andrea Powell
Ramir Raison
David Ramirez
Zaphir Reddy
Myleidi Rodriguez
Victor Saez
Kaleem Shelton
Brandon Smith
Ramon Smith
Tarell Spencer
Kinta Stanton
John Tarpeh
Francis Togba
Joshua Watson
Nabria Watson
Lamar Williams
Terrance “TA” Williams
Munir Young
I Am Not A Number | Book Launch and Exhibition | Vox Populi Gallery
The Youth Art & Self-empowerment Project (YASP) is a youth-led, intergenerational organization fighting to end direct file (the practice of automatically prosecuting young people in adult court) and youth incarceration as a whole. YASP believes in a holistic approach towards abolition and recognizes the importance of creative expression in imagining transformative responses to harm and violence. I Am Not A Number is an exhibition that celebrates the power and wisdom of the young people who have participated in creative arts workshops while in detention at several correctional facilities in the Philadelphia region.
Central to this exhibition is YASP’s self-published book I Am Not A Number which catalogs work by 42 artists created through visual art and writing programs facilitated by YASP in Philadelphia’s adult jails from 2006-2023. The culmination is 220 pages of honest, powerful, challenging and inspiring works by 40+ artists compiled over the last 7 years. Accompanying the book are artworks by 50+ past and present workshop artists and YASP staff.
About the Workshops
Our workshops are more than spaces to draw or to write. They are also opportunities to develop and grow. Weekly activities challenge young people to find new ways to express themselves, but we also focus on goal setting, self-care, affirmations, and conflict resolution. Each workshop is voluntary and takes place on the unit—usually at a picnic table or fold out table in the common space. There are always distractions or other activities happening during our workshops that can yank a young person away from participating.
The longevity of our program allows us the flexibility to make all kinds of projects. Some works are based on specific prompts, like a Journey Map of your life or a response to a PA State bill or local event. Some works are self-guided by the artists using techniques and strategies they’d learned in previous projects. Guest facilitators are routinely brought to MOD3 at RCF to run one-off workshops on topics like financial literacy, blackout poetry, horror writing, work out and self-care routines and more. At any time, students can request specific projects, processes and topics to explore.
The materials we use are limited to what is allowed in each correctional facility. Most of the work is made on paper. It is important that our workshops model the context they will experience as they get older so they have the ability to express themselves any time they choose to do so.
In addition to the work from the jails, this exhibition explores ways in which art is integrated into YASP’s broader campaign work. Also on display is Fight Until We Decay, directed by Ami Glazer; poetry readings and performances by artists and authors; a memorial to loved ones YASP has lost loved ones; and the musical playlists you hear have been curated by current participants in workshops at JJSC and MOD3.
