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POLICING THE USA
Policing the USA

Making a difference: Art humanizes inmates

Victim's family member reaches out, uses exhibit to heal

Eileen Rivers, and Michelle Poblete
USA TODAY
Alexander Salazar Fine Art studio will host an exhibit of art created by convicted felons starting April 16, 2016.

It might be unusual for someone to become interested in inmate art because a family member is shot and the perpetrator is sent to jail. But that's exactly what happened in the case of Alexander Salazar, whose San Diego gallery is set to display an entire exhibit of pieces created by prisoners on April 16.

The Houston neighborhood of Salazar's youth was known for being rough. And it was a disturbing scene in a neighbor's yard that led to Salazar's father getting shot. The teen woke up his dad to watch the commotion. Moments after the family walked onto their front lawn, a bullet from a teenager's gun forced his father to collapse. The 53-year-old man had been shot in the head.

The teenager who fired the bullet was sentenced to 10 years.

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A few years ago, after Salazar's father died, the gallery owner, who studied art at Colorado College, began wondering about prisoners and the art they produce. He decided to put on a show, which he thought could help humanize inmates, some of whom, he thought, might be redeemed.

He wants people to take away several things from the show: an awareness of what happened to his father, the importance of victims assistance funds (the one in Houston helped his family after his father's shooting), and the power of art to humanize.

This is not just healing for his family it's "healing for everyone," Salazar said.

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