Guantánamo Images and Imaginaries: Engaging With the Prison Through Art

What does the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba look like? The answer is undoubtedly different for the detainees held captive there, the military personnel working there, and the limited numbers of lawyers, journalists, artists and other civilians who have been afforded restricted access on tightly controlled visits to the site over the last twenty years.

In addition to photos of the base released in the public domain, all subject to military review and censorship, Guantánamo also looms large in many people’s imaginations. Myriad artists, among them current and former detainees, have used art as a means to depict, critique, escape or otherwise engage with Guantánamo through visual, written and experiential mediums. To mark the grim 20-year anniversary of the prison’s continued operation in the disastrous “war on terror,” ECCHR presents five videos featuring different artists and artistic engagements with Guantánamo over the last two decades.

 

Five Videos
Exploring Guantánamo through diverse artistic mediums, in conversation with the artists themselves.
Mansoor Adayfi
Detainee Art
Molly Crabapple
Illustration and Courtroom Sketching
Sarah Mirk
Comics Journalism
Ian Alan Paul
Speculative Museum
Debi Cornwall
Photography
Five Videos
Exploring Guantánamo through diverse artistic mediums, in conversation with the artists themselves.
Sarah Mirk
Comics Journalism
Mansoor Adayfi
Detainee Art
Ian Alan Paul
Speculative Museum
Molly Crabapple
Illustration and Courtroom Sketching
Debi Cornwall
Photography