For her birthday this year, third-year law student Kendra Montgomery-Blinn received a package in the mail last February containing two chalk drawings on folded handkerchiefs. One depicted a mouse in a field, and the other showed a mouse blowing out a candle and read "Have a wonderful day Kendra."
This gift--from North Carolina death row inmate Randy Atkins--sparked something in Montgomery-Blinn, who had worked with Atkins since her internship at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation after her first year of law school. She and second-year law student Emily Marroquin, who worked with the Death Penalty Network at the law school over the past year, then transpired to create a 'death row art show,' which is now on display in the School of Law's student lounge.
"It is important for us to see art like this," said Jim Coleman, law professor and senior associate dean for academic affairs. "The people on death row are people--human beings."
Coleman, who spoke at the art show's opening reception Wednesday night, said he felt many of the inmates were on death row because their lawyers had failed to depict them as real people rather than as abstractions. One of Coleman's clients, Stephen Todd Booker, wrote and dedicated a book, "TUG: A collection of poetry," to his lawyer and others in gratitude for their help. Booker has also set up a trust fund from the proceeds for his victim's family.
Montgomery-Blinn and Marroquin wanted the show to be a catalyst for discussion about the death penalty rather than a specific statement on the death penalty itself. While they have received some criticism from other media sources comparing their show to a VH1 program that paid inmates to sing about their crimes, Montgomery-Blinn and Marroquin said they just wanted to find an outlet for the beautiful artwork that so few people had seen. They also wanted to emphasize the attorneys and assistants who worked so hard for their clients for little or no money.
"[This art show] is as much about the attorneys and what they've done as the artists," Montgomery-Blinn said. She added that the artwork--one of the only things an inmate can give--demonstrates the gratitude the inmates have for those who have cared about them.
The artwork in the show includes poetry, cartoons, drawings and paintings.
Cornelius Nobles, a North Carolina death row inmate, wrote a poem, "A Prayer," dedicated to his deceased wife, and sent it to Sohini Chatterjee, a second-year law student who works with his lawyer. "All my efforts have gone in vain, and/ the thirst of all this pain remains/ unquenched, so filled with dismay and/ dejection," he wrote.
Ricky Lee Sanderson, who was executed Jan. 30, 1998, drew "Portrait on the Eve of My Execution," a simple picture of a gray-haired man with sad blue eyes, which he dedicated to his lawyer.
"It's overwhelming to stand here and see [the art]," said Cindy Adcock, a senior lecturing fellow at the law school. "The art evokes something within yourself, causes you to ask questions."
Adcock is currently working on the appeal for Ernest Basden, whose execution is scheduled for Dec. 6. Speaking at the opening reception, she displayed a card drawn by Basden with five roosters that read "Duke's Starting Five" in order to make fun of the rival of his favorite team, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Adcock condemned the death penalty for its arbitrary nature.
"[Basden's] case typifies the problems of the system," she said. "If he were to be tried today, he would [only] have a life sentence."
Tyrone Wallace, whose brother is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 10, is traveling around North Carolina with Basden's family to raise consciousness about the death penalty. After participating in a rally Wednesday outside of the Duke University Chapel, Wallace came to see the show.
"People that are behind the wall are 'thrown away,'" Wallace said. "It means a lot to know that people care who are on the outside."
The art show, which will be up until mid-December, consists of nearly 100 pieces from about 20 different people. The inmates all created the work while on death row; since then, three have been executed, three died of natural causes and five were given a life sentence. All of the pieces were gifts to lawyers and friends.
Montgomery-Blinn and Marroquin are happy with the way the show turned out and hope to find some way for the show to travel. "It has been a lot of work for Emily and I... but it was important enough for us to see it done," Montgomery-Blinn said.
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