PICTURING OUR DREAMS was created by incarcerated youth at Monroe Correctional Facility working with a NYSLC writer and a NYSLC visual artist and Rochester City School District teachers. The dreams were written by incarcerated youth at both Monroe County Jail and  Monroe Correctional Facility. PICTURING OUR DREAMS was made possible with funding from The Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson Foundation.

We invite you to take a dream with you.  Click any of the numbers below.

This mural is communicating there is freedom and there is knowledge inside the jail system.  I would like to see PICTURING OUR DREAMS hung on city streets to share that although we are locked up we do have dreams. Our dreams are alive. Our dreams come alive if you ask us to dream.
 

            Eric

The microphone in PICTURING OUR DREAMS is to let you know that those of us who are incarcerated are voicing our thoughts and dreams to our own community in the mural. We are expressing our feelings for a better community, for peace, and for telling each other to never give up our hopes and dreams. 

I would like to see the mural shown downtown because that’s where most people in the city pass through coming from one side of town to another, waiting for the bus, or going to school.

            Deisjar

When I was sentenced, to be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting to accomplish anything in jail. Come on jail, jail where all the bad people live, where time stops and everything is lost. Can you blame me for giving up hope. This mural was a second chance in all that was forgotten, like dreams, goals, disappointments to all those we all dishonored. I made a mistake. I am human. The mural has been a bridge between my community and the civil war going on in my mind.

I

am tired

of fighting

my dreams.

I want you to look at PICTURING OUR DREAMS and know I want my dreams. I want my purpose on earth. This is what I want you to grab.

            Tarquin

This mural is speaking for each and every one of us who is incarcerated. These are our dreams, our thoughts, and our hopes. This is our time to shine, and we want to show you that our dreams and aspirations maybe aren’t that different from yours. Look at the mural and think of your dreams. I hope the mural will inspire you to dream.

I want a life

I can say I was proud of,

not a normal one,

an extraordinary one,

one

somebody will remember.

Don’t let your dreams die.

            Daniel

Coming from a troubled home with a dysfunctional family I've always thought I was nothing but a lost soul. I was always told I was worth nothing. When I started writing my thoughts for the mural I had so many new, fresh thoughts running through my mind. One stood out and that was speaking, letting people know I have ideas. I have things I hope for. I made a mistake that led to incarceration, but I have hopes and dreams, too, just like every other human being.

            Jennifer

This mural is the lives, loves, histories, hopes and fears of those of us who are incarcerated. I hope when you look at this mural you will look at those of us who made mistakes differently.

            Bryon

I am so excited that somebody came up with this mural, and that they thought about us. PICTURING OUR DREAMS means a lot to me because it proves that we aren’t any different from anyone else, and we have dreams too. We dream about going to college and getting a good job. We dream about who we want to be in life. Once simple mistake doesn’t have to determine who we really are. We want to live our dreams. We want to live past the stereotypes, racism and discrimination.

            Michelle

Are jails and prisons

the only places

you can see us.

Why

can’t you see us?

Is this the reason we kill each other?

Here

look at this mural.

See us.

This

is who we are.

            Leon

I hope PICTURING OUR DREAMS mural will bring hope and understanding to the Rochester community. We want our community to know all youth can dream and hold fast to their dreams.

Hold fast to dreams.

For if dreams die,

Life is a broken-winged bird

That cannot fly.

Langston Hughes

We are all in it for the long run, and we know no path to success is easy. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream, and we want to see his dream alive.  We must learn not to fight against each other. We must learn to build dreams and not break them.

I want you to look at this mural as a sign of learning to build dreams.

The mural project was based around dreams and the struggles we as individuals face while we pursue our dreams.

We want our mural to inspire as well as bring hope and understanding to the Rochester community. We want the community to realize we have dreams.  

This mural is our way of giving back, a sign that we as individuals want to succeed

            Damien