Restricted Area

Restricted Area Suave Gonzalez  Mixed Media Collage on Stretched Canvas Size: 36”w x48”h "Restricted Area," the title of this artwork, contrasts with the legal prison economy by highlighting the underground economy where everything is illegal. The artwork features items only available within this illicit system: cell phones, chargers, headphones, a toothbrush-turned-tattoo gun, drug tests, razor blades, and a condom. Note that in prison, condoms are used not for sex but to conceal contraband temporarily within the body.  The central focus of this artwork is a long-sleeved shirt, illegally made and gifted to Suave by another prisoner just before Suave’s release.  All these items in this artwork were stored in the prison's official security section, known as the "Restricted Area."  Two days before Suave’s release on November 18, 2017, a trustee of Graterford Prison, who worked with security, gifted Suave a box containing these items. The artist took the box home knowing one day he would use this prison contraband to educate the public about survival in prison. “These items might be illegal, but they are all essential to the survival of prisoners.”  Suave Gonzalez, artist