2023-08-02 06:00:00
This is the second chance for African-American Gary Tyler. He reaches mature age, after having a dangerous prison as a school since adolescence to develop his art.
“My artistic practice was born out of injustice”, he maintains when he has just opened his first solo exhibition in Detroit.
It had been two decades since school segregation had been declared unconstitutional in the United States (1954 decision Brown v. Board of Education), when Tyler, 16, was arrested in 1974 in St. Charles, Louisiana. He and other African-American students in Destrehan (about 20 miles from New Orleans) were attacked by a group of whites, who did not like to share classrooms with those of a different color, while they were on a school bus.
Gary Tyler was in the harsh prison called Angola for more than 40 years for a crime that he always denied
Timothy Weber, a 13-year-old white man, died in the confrontation. He received a bullet impact. Many witnesses, including the driver, claimed that the shot came from outside the vehicle in which Tyler was traveling. It didn’t help because of his audacity.
Inspired by a recent trip to California, where his brother lived, he learned firsthand about the Black Panther Party and was imbued with the concept of racial equality. So he couldn’t think of anything better than to respond to a policeman during the investigation at the scene of the event. For a black to address a uniformed man in the rural South was considered a crime, as well as blasphemy. The agents beat up and arrested Tyler, who they charged as a symbol of what was happening to an African-American who dared to cross the line.
My artistic practice was born from injustice”
Gary Tyler
An all-white jury found him guilty in November 1975 and sentenced him to death. While awaiting execution, he was sent to the maximum security prison in Angola.
His trial, riddled with irregularities, attracted the attention of relevant figures in the fight for civil rights, such as the mythical Rosa Parks, an activist whose action of refusing to give up the seats reserved for whites on a bus in December 1955 led to his arrest and what is described as the spark of the fight for equality.
The appeals court overturned the ruling in 1980. “The trial was fundamentally unfair,” the judges stressed. However, this resolution was annulled the following year. There was no longer the death penalty. He was sentenced to 41 years in prison.
Gary Tyler has managed to open an exhibition in Detroit, after spending more than four decades behind bars
LV
Despite protests, including internationally, Tyle served his sentence hard, day by day. He took advantage of the time. “I learned the art of patchwork from the theater,” he noted. For three decades he directed Angola’s theater program. “I used my talent to enrich my life and also mentored many colleagues in prison,” he added in a statement. He used the drama “to promote a culture of community, civic responsibility and hope.” He also volunteered at the prison hospice, trying to offer comfort to those who were going to die.
Her performance with the sewing machine emerged as a fundraiser both for the theater and for those admitted to the hospice and their families.
In 2016, when he turned 57, Tyler managed to get out on the street. He was a free man, although his innocence was never recognized. He found work in a Los Angeles studio, which allowed him to have stability in his life, collaborate with homeless youth organizations and continue his passion for artistic creation with textile material, pieces that include self-portraits. .
Now, in addition to taking his household goods against injustice around the country, he has had the great opportunity to present his works alone. The exhibition is entitled We are ready, an expression that has been taken from the motto of the Angolan theater club.
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