LOS ANGELES (AP) – Ndume Olatushani jokes that he “couldn’t even draw a crooked line straight” when he arrived on death row almost 30 years ago.
He had plenty of time to learn, though, being locked in a cell up to 22 hours a day for 28 years.
Now, one of the paintings by Olatushani, who was freed in 2012 after a judge overturned his murder conviction, is the centerpiece of a Los Angeles exhibition titled “Windows on Death Row: Art From Inside and Outside the Prison Walls.”
Featuring dozens of pieces from more than 20 artists in styles ranging from oil on canvas to pencil on paper, the show seeks to depict the lives, thoughts and emotions of those preparing to be executed.
The exhibition’s organizers, political cartoonist Patrick Chappatte and his wife, Swiss broadcast journalist Anne-Frederique Widmann, hope it will help advance international discussion about the death penalty.