Art, culture and community carve out new lives for inmates

SANTA FE, N.M.

When asked what will help them make good on the outside, three tribal members serving time in New Mexico prisons didn’t hesitate to answer.

They said that the ability to make and sell their art, family support and traditional healing were on the top of their lists.

Nelson Yatsattie (Zuni Pueblo), Remus Tso (Diné) and Fernando Silentman (Diné) were featured artists and marketers for the 2nd annual Inmate Craftsmanship and Trades Fair held May 2 at the Santa Fe facility.

Inmate artists from 11 prisons across the state participated in the event.

While musician-inmate Rigoberto Trejo sang a Spanish ballad and played a guitar in the center of a Quonset-like metal building where the event took place, a steady stream of people filed in stopping at various tables that displayed a variety of art from paintings, carvings, metal work to fabric art.

Standing behind a long table that displayed dozens of various-sized carved bears made out of cottonwood, Yatsattie smiled slightly as he picked one up.

“I learned how to carve when I was growing up,” he said adding that he spent his childhood exploring the northwestern New Mexico mountains located near the Zuni Pueblo.

Each of the sculpted bears holds its head at a particular angle and seems to have its own distinct personality.

“It represents the strength of the inner being,” Yatsattie explained, who also carves mountain lions, badgers, beavers and other kinds of animals.

---