Editor’s Note: Absence of Light is a project created in collaboration with incarcerated people at Auburn Correctional Facility in Auburn, New York.

Inside the prison industrial complex, there are voices. Voices yearning to be heard. Yearning to attract the attention of those willing to listen. Willing to comprehend. Willing to understand. Willing to share what life is currently like in the absence of light. What life is currently like on the other side of America.

“The Earth’s energy needs to be renewed.

New ideas need space.

Body and soul need new challenges.

The future has become the present, and every dream

– except those dreams that involve preconceived ideas –

will have a chance to be heard.

Anything of importance will remain;

anything useless will disappear.

However, it is not the warrior’s responsibility to judge the dreams of others

and he does not waste time criticizing other people’s decisions.

In order to have faith in his own path,

He does not need to prove that someone else’s path is wrong.”

An excerpt from “The Manual of the Warrior of Light” by Paulo Coelho

It is with that in mind that Absence of Light is presented. To show the minds of those whose ideas are creating that space. Have overcome challenges. Have accepted their path.

Published on November 8, 2020 at 10:38 pm