Call for Artwork
Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar, 2011
Deadline: May 1st, 2010
Art in honour of political prisoners and prisoners of war and their struggles, work and victories
The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective (www.certaindays.org) is excited to celebrate our tenth calendar (2011), which will be released in fall 2010. Over the years, we’ve turned our attention to various themes: grassroots organizing, the legacy of the Black Panther Party, and indigenous resistance. For our tenth anniversary, we are assembling a calendar that returns to the topic of political prisoners and prisoners of war (PP/POWs), and examines their struggles, victories and ongoing work.

Each year, we feature 12 works of art by prisoners and outside activists, and these works hang in 2,500 homes, workplaces, and community spaces. This year, we are doing an open call to encourage the production of new works that turn our attention to the amazing political prisoners and prisoners of war who have sacrificed so much for political change, and still stay strong and organize from behind prison walls.
For 2011, we are looking for art that explores the issues faced by PP/POWs and their supporters, and the modes of resistance they employ. Rather than art focusing on a particular individual, we are more interested in art that explores particular subjects. Topics may include: solitary confinement and control units; the death penalty; immigration/refugee detention ; writing from the inside; Black August; PP/POWs organizing with other prisoners ; medical neglect, health and aging; eco prisoners and the environmentalism of older PP/POWs and their movements; intergenerational connections between PP/POWs and their movements; families and how they defend their loved ones; AIDS/HIV prison organizing; new generations of community activists being arrested; prison abolition; grand jury resistance; political education programs and study groups; women PP/POWs; Palestinian prisoners; PP/POWs organizing projects with ‘outside’ activists; the re-investigation of old cases (ex: SF8); the release of PP/POWs; PP/POWs acting as jailhouse lawyers; national liberation and self-determination; the targeting of political activists (historically and now) under the rubric of ‘anti-terrorism.’
GUIDELINES
1. The calendar is 11” tall by 8.5” wide, so art with a ‘portrait’ orientation is preferred. Some pieces may be printed with a border.
2. The calendar is printed in colour. We often prefer colour images, though have printed black and white images in the past, where it makes sense.
3. You may send as many submissions as you like.
4. Send images smaller than 10 MB. You need not send a high-res file as a submission, but if we choose your piece, we will need a high-res version of it to print.
5. Send your submissions by May 1 to kesuurtamm@hotmail.com and cc info@certaindays.org.
6. Chosen artists will receive a free copy of the 2011 calendar. Because the calendar is a fundraiser, we cannot offer money to artists.
7. Art will be chosen by May 30th.
ABOUT THE CALENDAR
The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto and three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell. We are committed to doing work grounded in an anti-imperialist and anti-racist perspective. We work in solidarity with anti-colonial struggles, Political Prisoners and the rights of undocumented citizens and immigrants. We are queer and trans positive.
Our Goals: We hope to raise awareness of Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War in the United States and abroad, of whom many are now in or approaching their 30th year of imprisonment. People on the streets should understand the history of today’s social justice movements and how that history is linked to solidarity for PPs/POWs. In addition to building that historical awareness, we emphasize the ongoing involvement and continued commitment of PPs/POWs in these same movements.
Proceeds from the calendar will be used for direct support work for Political Prisoners and anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggles in the U.S. and Canada.
Please contact us with any questions, comments or submissions, at:
Calendar Committee
c/o QPIRG Concordia
1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd. O.,
Montreal, QC
H3G 1M8 Canada
info@certaindays.org

image artwork by Angela Sterritt