Art from Inside

Sketches by Erickson, currently detained at Baker County Detention Center.

Caption content provided by Joan Anderson of Baker Interfaith Friends.

Thirty-six year-old Erickson was born in Colombia but has lived in the U.S. since he was eight. Despite his status as a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR), he has been detained by ICE and living in immigration detention for the past couple of years. His sketches below evoke the melancholy, uncertainty and deprivation of life in detention.

Erickson's view of life at Baker, including the tables in the stark common area where they eat and watch TV, as well as the phones and visitor sign-up sheet on the right. A watchful guard is visible at the door.

Erickson drew this during his brief sojourn at Wakulla Detention Center. In the text, he reflects on some of the injustices he's encountered and his realization that there are no second chances for LPR's.

This sketch depicts Erickson's struggle with the contrary concept of being a Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) -- and what it does not mean.  

The only view Erickson has of the outdoors at Baker.

Here, Erickson uses a symbolic blank scroll to represent his uncertainty regarding his future. The chains are ever-present, illustrating his inability to understand why he has been handcuffed and treated as a criminal.