Seeking salvation through sketching: an artistic journey beginning in solitary confinement

From The Tech, MIT’s student newspaper:

“My name is Jake Pilsbury. I am 29. Sorry, I had to think about that. I’ve spent basically half my life in prison — 12 years.” 

…Pilsbury is a self-taught artist who discovered his talent while in solitary confinement. He spent over three years inside a supermax cell, which he described as a prison inside a maximum security prison itself. “The best way I can describe the supermax is they put you inside a hole and throw away the hole. It was during this dark time when I watched those around me slowly lose touch with reality, which is not that uncommon in that environment. Imagine staying inside a concrete box for years at a time with literally nothing to occupy your mind but your own anxieties.”

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