NEW MEXICO CHICANO PRISON PAÑO

NEW MEXICO CHICANO PRISON PAÑO

Private collection

Collection

American Gang Culture · American Prison System · Prison Art

Artists

Dennis Tianilo
Sam Chavso

Title

Slippin' Into Darkness

Origin

Undisclosed New Mexico State Prison
New Mexico, USA

Year

1993

Medium

Ink and colored pencil on cotton

Association

Sureño-affiliated prison gang members within the New Mexico prison system.

Description

Hand-colored prison artwork depicting Chicano prison-culture motifs, including “Smile Now, Cry Later” masks with mustaches, a prison watchtower, an inmate being stabbed, correctional officers restraining a prisoner, roses, and the Virgin Mary. Accompanied by the inscription “Slippin Into Darkness,” the composition explores themes of incarceration, violence, faith, loss, and redemption.

NEW MEXICO CHICANO PRISON PAÑO

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550BC is an independent publishing house based in Amsterdam, founded in 2018. Specializing in the complex realities of organized crime and conflict, we explore these subjects through the lens of visual anthropology. Our photo books provide rare, first-person perspectives from within otherwise inaccessible worlds, often created in direct collaboration with those involved.

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