Cortez Davis-EL, 2016
I write what I’m feeling on paper. I read it once I’m done. I then tear it up and flush it down the toilet. That is my way of dealing with it and letting it go moving on. I had trouble letting things go. No matter how big or how small the issue was. I made it bigger and that led to more trouble. I had to learn how to address issues and deal with them better. Writing and tearing it up works for me.

Artist Statement
As a child growing up in a drug infested environment I lived in constant fear. Being hungry all the time with very few adults to turn to, I became what I hated. I stop looking in the mirror because I was afraid to face the boy looking back at me. I felt lost and hopeless. I never thought that I would live past 14, but I did.

People began telling me at an early age that I was never going to be anything. Since it was coming from adults that claim to love me, I believed them I really gave up on myself, by giving in to the negative thinking of other lost people.

After I was convicted, my sentencing judge, the Honorable Vera Massey Jones, let me know that she saw redemption in me and that was the first time something positive was directed toward me and I made it my mission to discover what she saw in me for myself.

I see myself as the lost and found. As a child I embarked on the wrong path and lost sight of who I was. As an adult I found the right path and found myself. I see myself as the face of what a positive transformation is.