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R E C E N T WO R K S B Y M A L AQU I A S
PREMEDITATED:
MEDITATIONS ON CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
R E C E N T W O R K S B Y M A L A Q U I A S M O N TOYA
An exhibition organized by the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame
For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would
have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim
of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death
on him and who, from that moment onward, had
confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster
is not encountered in private life.1
Albert Camus
3
Acknowledgments
Malaquias Montoya and Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya gratefully acknowledge the generous contributions
toward the publication of this catalogue. Major support has been provided by:
Institute for Latino Studies
Dr. Gilberto Cárdenas, Director
Caroline Domingo, Publications Manager
Snite Museum of Art
Charles Loving, Director
Gina Costa, Exhibit Curator
University of Notre Dame
The Center for Mexican American Studies
Dr. José E. Limón, Director
Dolores García, Assistant to the Director
University of Texas @ Austin
Chicana/o Studies Program
Dr. Adela de la Torre, Director
Committee on Research &
Office of the Deans
University of California, Davis
The Chicano Studies Research Center
Chon Noriega, Director
University of California, Los Angeles
Aztec America
Carlos Montoya, President & CEO
Chicago, Illinois
Ricardo and Harriet Romo
San Antonio,Texas
Special thanks to Carlos Jackson, MFA
University of California, Davis,
for the research conducted for this project
Design, photography, and research: Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya
Production: Jane Norton, Creative Solutions
Printing: Harmony Marketing Group
Co-published by Malaquias Montoya and Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya, and the Institute for Latino Studies,
University of Notre Dame.
For ordering information contact either of the addresses below:
Institute for Latino Studies
Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya
250F McKenna Hall
Post Office Box 6
Elmira, CA 95625
Notre Dame, IN 46556
[email protected]
www.nd.edu/~latino/art
www.malaquiasmontoya.com
Cover image: The Killing of the Mentally Ill, 2002, Charcoal/Collage, 30x22 inches
© 2004 Malaquias Montoya and Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya
All rights reserved under International Copyright Conventions. No artwork from this book may be reproduced
in any form whatsoever without written permission from the publishers.
4
Introduction
in America, as realized through the creation of
a series of images depicting individuals being put to
death.These images challenged faculty and students
of Notre Dame, as indicated by their thoughts
shared in the exhibition comment book. One
student stated, “This exhibit struck me in
Montoya is deeply ideological in the leadership
a profound way. Indeed, our indifference to the
role he fills for the Chicano Art Movement; he
systematic execution of our fellow human beings
is iconoclastic, to American eyes, in his opposition
is a disturbing thing.” Another asked,
to capitalism and imperialism; he is
“Where are the pictures of the victims
humanistic in his opposition to
What concerns me
of those portrayed here?”
discrimination based on race, sex or
is, why do we kill,
class. Moreover, after lifelong
While Montoya promises to consider
devotion to “the cause,” he remains
what happens to
the plight of crime victims in future
profoundly idealistic.
our humanity and
work, this exhibition focuses on those
who are put to death as punishment for
Regardless of one’s politics, any thinking
to us, as a culture?
crimes they committed—or, possibly,
person has to admire an artist who has so
-Malaquias
Montoya
did not commit. As such, it features
selflessly “dedicated his life to informing
important historical references. The
and educating those neglected and
Electrocution of William Kemmler (2002, charcoal)
exploited peoples whose lives are at risk in milieus of
depicts the first person to be executed in the
racism, sexism, and cultural oppression.”2 In short, it
electric chair. The first attempt to kill Kemmler
is truly invigorating to find a contemporary artist
with a seventeen-second-charge of electric current
who shares this institution’s belief that art can be the
was a failure. The severely–burnt Kemmler was in
catalyst for positive change in individual lives.
agony throughout the time required to recharge the
chair. The second, successful attempt lasted over
For all of these reasons it was a pleasure and an
one minute, and several witnesses expressed
honor for the Snite Museum of Art, University of
revulsion at Kemmler’s moans of pain, the odor of
Notre Dame, to participate in the exhibition and
burning flesh and the smoke emanating from his
publication of Montoya’s most recent body
head. Ruth Snyder; First Woman Executed, Sing Sing
of work. We were especially grateful to be able
Prison, 1928 (2002, acrylic painting) depicts two
to prepare this exhibition since Montoya seldom
firsts. Not only was Snyder the first woman to be
ventures into the mainstream American art
executed in the electric chair, but a newspaper
system—namely, he does not produce his art
photographer who had smuggled a camera onto the
for the purpose of selling, he does not exhibit
scene documented the event. The following day a
in commercial galleries, and he is suspicious
photograph of the electrocution appeared on the
of museums.
front page of the Daily News. George Jackson Lives,
Murdered in 1971 by San Quentin Prison Guards (1976,
Premeditated: Meditations on Capital Punishment is the
offset lithograph) depicts the killing of this Black
artist’s prolonged consideration of the death penalty
Visual artist, poet and teacher, Malaquias Montoya
is one of an endangered species—a contemporary
artist who believes that art can make the world
a better place.
5
Panther, an event that was immortalized in Bob
Dylan’s song “George Jackson.” Mumia Abu-Jamal
(1999, charcoal/collage) celebrated a series of
public events that occurred on September 11,
1999, to protest the continued incarceration of
Mumia Abu-Jamal, who has been on death row
since 1982. Additional images depict more
generic executions, lynchings, and hangings.
The images are paintings, drawings, and silkscreen
prints. Some have collage elements; others
include texts from eyewitness accounts to
executions or statements made by journalists and
other writers. For example, Abolish the Death
Penalty (2000, silkscreen) includes the following
statement by Susan Blaustein, “We have perfected
the art of institutional killing to the degree that it
has deadened our natural, quintessentially human
response to death.” The images are either black
and white or they utilize strong, primary colors;
the strokes are expressionistic, aggressive and
gestural; drips suggest blood, vomitus, and other
body fluids.
In short, they are intentionally graphic—
effectively designed products of the graphic arts
and unpleasantly, vividly descriptive—designed
to shock us out of the indifference described in
Blaustein’s quote.
Finally, and so typical of Montoya, proceeds from
the sale of this catalog will benefit organizations
opposed to the death penalty.
Charles R. Loving
Director and Curator of Sculpture
Snite Museum of Art
April 14, 2004
Numerous studies…report that the death penalty
has no deterrent effect.
6
Meditations on Capital Punishment
by Malaquias Montoya
though, conducted by various researchers, report
This project was conceived during the presidential
that the death penalty has no deterrent effect.7
election of 2000. There was a lot of media concentration on the state of Texas because our selected
president was governor there. A great deal of
What concerns me is: Why do we kill and what
attention was placed on the immense number
happens to us as a humanity, as a culture? Why is
of people being executed in that state’s death
state-sanctioned killing any different from a killing
chambers.3 I also started giving the death penalty
that takes place in the streets? One is planned and
the other is not? Amadou Diallo, shot forty-one
a lot of consideration when I did the poster design
times by the NYPD, had no weapon, was innocent,
for the Mumia 911 day.4 The possibility of this
and yet the police officers were set
brilliant man being murdered, on the
free.8 I personally remember the
basis of a flawed trial that left a lot of
We create the
uncertainty behind his conviction, was
young man, José Barlow Benavides,
situations that lead
hard to digest.5
shot to death by Peace Officer Cogley
in Oakland, CA.The investigation was
our children to
futile—no one was charged for the
I have always been against the death
commit monstrous
crime. One must ask oneself, who lives
penalty. It is an irrational idea that you
and who dies?
kill a person because s/he has killed
acts, and then we
another. It seems that the State,
kill them..
In August of 1945 the United States
composed of intelligent people, could
pulled off two incredible flybys
find another way of seeking justice;
awakening the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
revenge seems too infantile a way of settling
killing and maiming hundreds of thousands of
a dilemma. So how does the victim obtain justice? In
civilians, forever changing the global perspective
a recent murder of a young woman and her unborn
of war and the balance of power. Eight years later,
child, the victim’s mother said, “she hopes that
afraid of losing that power, our government killed
whoever killed her daughter would hear her
Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for alleged espionage.
daughter’s pleas not to be killed for as long as he
The sentencing judge stated, “By your betrayal, you
lives.”6 Life imprisonment without parole would
have undoubtedly altered the course of history to
allow this torment to continue. For proponents of
the disadvantage of our country.”9 Disadvantage? For
the death penalty, however, this punishment is too
easy; there is no immediate satisfaction; it is
years our government and its corporate backers
anticlimactic after a long and agonizing trial, which
have committed carnage against world citizens, and
kept us in daily suspense with headlines and TV
since World War II the great majority of these
news briefs. Death penalty proponents argue that
atrocities have been committed against people of
life imprisonment would not be enough admonition
color. South and Central America, the Caribbean,
to those preparing to murder; that those convicted
Asia, and the Middle East have all been playgrounds
must be killed in order to deter others from
for testing our latest “killing technology” and flexing
committing such heinous crimes. Numerous studies
our imperial power.
7
This insensitivity to human life not only takes
place on an international level but is also displayed
in our own country. Our communities—the poor
and people of color—are recipients of daily
violence. Dilapidated schools, crumbling buildings,
and service programs almost nonexistent due to
cutbacks are a type of violence committed on the
human psyche. Pain and violence are pervasive
throughout poor communities as drugs flourish
on street corners and police, ignorant and fearful,
perpetuate further terror. Mothers, fathers,
brothers and sisters are all walking around in
a state of shock waiting for the next violent act.
These poor communities are the victims of selfinflicted violence, and then to compound the
situation, they feel they are to blame, not the
greater structural mechanism. Our country’s
solution to all of this is to build more prisons and
increase the number on death row.10 This act of
concentrating the country’s poor into a cycle of
economic and physical violence seems to be
a purposeful act by the State. When billions and
billions of dollars are spent on war and we refuse
to educate our youth, house our homeless,
provide medical care to our elderly and ill, and
feed our hungry, one can only wonder what the
real intentions are. We create the situations that
lead our children to commit monstrous acts and
then we kill them.
We reap what we sow.
Amadou Diallo, shot forty-one times in 1999 by the NYPD, had
no weapon, was innocent, and yet the police officers were set free.
Amadou Diallo, 2001
Acrylic Painting
8
9
George Jackson, a member of the Black Panthers, was jailed with
a sentence of one year to life, ostensibly for stealing 70 dollars, and
later killed in a San Quentin prison riot in 1971. Many believe that
he was initially framed by the state in a racist response to his political
activism and subsequently murdered by prison guards because of his
attempts to organize his fellow inmates.
After Jackson’s death, prison officials charged six prisoners—the socalled San Quentin Six—in a 97-count indictment. Charges ranged
from attempted murder, conspiracy, escape, and assault to the killing
of the prison guards and inmates.
Their trial, at the time the longest in California history, lasted 17
months. Four days each week the six, shackled and chained, were led
into the Marin County Courthouse under heavy security. Eventually,
three were acquitted and three were convicted of lesser charges.11
George Jackson Lives, 1976
Offset Lithograph
10
11
Luis Talamantez is a human rights activist and artist who speaks
on the prison–industrial complex. A former political prisoner
(one of the San Quentin Six whose trial gained international
attention during the 1970s), Talamantez was acquitted and released
in 1976. Drawing on his experiences of 30 years behind bars, he
works to expose conditions at maximum security prisons like
California’s infamous Pelican Bay, Corcoran State Prison, and Valley
State Prison for Women. Talamantez is co-founder of California Prison
Focus and currently pens a column for their publication. He has
published two books of poetry and is an accomplished visual artist.12
Poem written and dedicated
to Malaquias Montoya
at the opening of his preview
exhibition at the Asian Resource
Gallery, Oakland, CA.
12
How time flies…
Our memories fade, and fall (on Silence)
The Silence of
Death Row—
is a “thing alone” never to forget,
—never to fall “Into”—
Inspiration
Reaches into the Dungeon Hole
Creativity Comforts our “Waiting,”
Our Silence
until—
the Final
Scream—
that Waits
inside us.
- Luis Talamantez, 2003
13
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning Pennsylvania journalist who
exposed police violence against minority communities. On death
row since 1982, he was wrongfully sentenced for the shooting
of a police officer. New evidence, including the recantation of a key
eyewitness, new ballistic and forensic evidence, and a confession from
Arnold Beverly (one of the two killers of Officer Faulkner) points
to his innocence. Mumia had no criminal record.
For the last 21 years Abu-Jamal has been locked up 23 hours
a day, been denied contact visits with his family, had his confidential
legal mail illegally opened by prison authorities, and been put into
punitive detention for writing his first of three books while in prison,
Live from Death Row.
His case is currently on appeal before the Federal District Court
in Philadelphia. Mumia’s fight for a new trial has won the support
of tens of thousands around the world. Mumia Abu-Jamal’s fate rests
with all those people who believe in every person’s right to justice
and a fair trial.5
Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1999
Charcoal/Collage
14
15
Lynching
During the heyday of lynching, between 1889 and 1918, 3,224
individuals were lynched, of whom 2,522 or 78 percent were Black.
Typically, the victims were hung or burned to death by mobs of
White vigilantes, frequently in front of thousands of spectators, many
of whom would take pieces of the dead person’s body as souvenirs
to help remember the spectacular event.13
Lynching Series 1, 2002
Charcoal
Overleaf:
Silkscreen
Silkscreen
16
17
18
19
No matter what anyone may say about vengeance or deterrence,
it is a matter of social control.14
- Joseph Ingle
The five countries with the highest homicide rates that do not
impose the death penalty average 21.6 murders per 100,000 people.
The five countries with the highest homicide rate that do impose
the death penalty average 41.6 murders for every 100,000 people.15
It’s a Matter of Social Control,
2002
Silkscreen
20
21
Hanging
Survival time: 8–13 minutes
After the hanging, the sentenced loses consciousness almost
immediately; the death occurs by asphyxiation, because of a slipknot
put around the neck and fixed to a support by the other end. The
weight of the body, hanging in mid-air or inclined forward, rests
on the slipknot, determines its closing and the compressing action
on respiratory tract. The hanging leaves different signs, both inside and
outside the body: the sentenced becomes cyanotic, the tongue hangs
out, the eyes pop out of his head, there is a groove on the neck;
there are also vertebral lesions and internal fractures.16 Three states,
Delaware, New Hampshire, and Washington, currently provide for
hanging as an option. Since 1977 three inmates have been executed
by hanging: two in Washington, and the last, in 1996, in Delaware.17
The Hanging Series 1, 2002
Charcoal/Pastel
Overleaf:
Silkscreen
Silkscreen
22
23
25
When in Gregg v. Georgia the Supreme Court gave its seal
of approval to capital punishment, this endorsement was premised
on the promise that capital punishment would be administered
with fairness and justice. Instead, the promise has become a cruel
and empty mockery. If not remedied, the scandalous state of our
present system of capital punishment will cast a pall of shame over
our society for years to come. We cannot let it continue.
- Justice Thurgood Marshall, 199018
Ruth Snyder, first woman
executed, Sing Sing Prison 1928,
2002 Acrylic Painting
26
27
Electrocution
In 1888 New York became the first state to adopt electrocution
as its method of execution. William Kemmler was the first man
executed by electrocution in 1890. Eventually twenty-six states
adopted electrocution as a “clean, efficient, and humane” means of
execution.Today, six states retain electrocution as their only method;
five others offer it as an option. It is the second most common
method of execution utilized in the modern era.19
The Electrocution
of William Kemmler, 2002
Charcoal
28
29
The Electrocution of William Kemmler
“Good-bye, William,” Durston said as he rapped
twice on the door.
Within the room, Davis sent the two-bell signal to
the dynamo room. The voltage was increased,
lighting the lamps on the control panel.Then Davis
pulled down the switch that placed the electric
chair into the circuit. The switch made
a noise that could be heard in the execution
chamber. Kemmler stiffened in the chair. The
plan had been to leave the current on for a full
20 seconds.
Dr. Spitzka, who had stationed himself next to
Kemmler in the room, watched Kemmler’s face
and hands. At first they turned deadly pale but
quickly changed to a dark red color.The fingers of
the hand seemed to grasp the chair. The index
finger of Kemmler’s right hand doubled up with
such strength that the nail cut through the palm.
There was a sudden convulsion as Kemmler strained
against the straps and his face twitched slightly, but
there was no sound from Kemmler’s lips.
“There is the culmination of ten years’ work and
study,” exclaimed Southwick. “We live in a higher
civilization from this day!”
Durston, however, insisted that the body was not
to be moved until the doctors signed the certificate
of death.
Dr. Balch, who was bending over the body looking
at the skin, noticed a rupture on the right index
finger of Kemmler’s right hand, where it had bent
back into the base of his thumb, causing a small cut,
which was dripping blood.
“Dr. MacDonald,” said Balch, “see the rupture?”
Dr. Spitzka held a stopwatch before him and
counted the seconds while examining Kemmler.
After just ten seconds had passed he shouted,
“Stop!” which was echoed by other people in the
room. Durston gave the order to the control
room, and Davis pulled the lever back, switching
the chair out of the circuit. The current had been
on for just 17 seconds.
Spitzka then gave the order, “Turn on the current!
Turn on the current instantly.This man is not dead!”
Kemmler’s body, which had been straining against
the straps, relaxed slightly when the current was
turned off.
This was not as easy as it might have been.When he
had been given the stop order, Davis had sent the
message to the control room to turn off the
dynamo. The voltmeter on the control panel was
almost back to zero. Davis is sent the two-bell
signal to the dynamo room and waited for the
current to build up again.
“He’s dead,” said Spitzka to Durston as the
witnesses who surrounded the chair congratulated
each other.
30
“Oh, he’s dead,” echoed Dr. MacDonald as the
other witnesses nodded in agreement. Spitzka
asked the other doctors to note the condition
of Kemmler’s nose, which had changed to a bright
red color. He then asked the attendants to loosen
the face harness so he could examine the nose
more closely. He then ordered that the body be
taken to the hospital.
Faces turned white, and the doctors fell back from
the chair. Durston, who had been next to the chair,
sprang back from the doorway and echoed
Spitzka’s order to “turn on the current.”
“Keep it on! Keep it on!” Durston ordered Davis.
The Human Experiment, 2003
Silkscreen
The group of witnesses stood by horror-stricken, their
eyes focused on Kemmler, as a frothy liquid began to drip
from his mouth. Then his chest began to heave and a heavy
sound like a groan came from his lips.Witnesses described
it as “a heavy sound,” as if Kemmler was struggling to
breathe. It continued at a regular interval, a wheezing
sound that escaped Kemmler’s tightly clenched lips.
Durston continued to shout to the control room to turn on
the current as some of the witnesses turned away from the
chair, unable to bear the sight of Kemmler. Quinby was so
sickened by the sight that he ran from the room. Another,
unidentified, witness lay down on the floor.20
31
Executions in the USA since 1976
Amnesty International USA21
Updated Mar 28, 2004
Year
Total
Executions
Cumulative
Total since 1976
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979
1978
1977
1976
18
65
71
66
85
98
68
74
45
56
31
38
31
14
23
16
11
25
18
18
21
5
2
1
0
2
0
1
0
903
885
820
749
683
598
500
432
358
313
257
226
188
157
143
120
104
93
68
50
32
11
6
4
3
3
1
1
0
Failed Electrocution, 2002
Charcoal
32
33
The Killing of the Innocent
“Marge, tell Mom not to bring any more cigarettes. My day
of execution has been set for Friday the 3rd. Tell Mother I will
soon be in the House of the Lord. He knows I am innocent.
Marge, don’t bring Mom.”
The Killing of the Innocent, 2002
Acrylic Painting
34
35
…Since we are guilty of no crime we will not be party to
the nefarious plot to bear false witness against other innocent
progressives to heighten hysteria in our land and worsen the
prospects of peace in the world…
…Nobody welcomes suffering, honey, but we are not the only
ones who are going through hell because of all we stand for
and I believe we are, in holding our own, contributing a share
in doing away with the great sufferings of many others, both
at this time and in time to come.
- Letter from Julius to Ethel Rosenberg, May 3, 195322
Executed, 2003
Silkscreen
36
37
The Gentle Sleep 1, 2002
Charcoal
Texas is the nation’s foremost executioner. It has been responsible for a third
of the executions in the country and has carried out two and a half times as
many death sentences as the next leading state. During the period when Texas
rose to become the nation’s leading death penalty state, its crime rate grew by
24 percent and its violent crime increased by 46 percent, much faster than the
national average.Texas leads the country in numbers of its police officers killed,
and more Texans die from gunshot wounds than from car accidents.23
38
Silkscreen
His head pointed up, his body lay flat and still for seconds. Then a harsh
rasping began. His fingers trembled up and down, and the witnesses standing
near his midsection say that his stomach heaved. Quiet returned, and his head
turned to the right, toward the black dividing rail. A second spasm of wheezing
began. It was brief. His body moved no more.24
39
Lethal Injection
When the IV tubes are in place, a curtain may be drawn back from
the window or one-way mirror to allow witnesses to view the
execution. At this time, the inmate is given a chance to make a final
statement, either written or verbal. This statement is recorded and
later released to the media. The prisoner’s head is left unrestrained —
in states that use regular windows, this enables the inmate to turn
and look at the witnesses. In states that use one-way mirrors, the
witnesses are shielded from view.25
A More Gentle Way of Killing...
2003
Silkscreen
40
41
By using medical knowledge and personnel to kill people, we do
more than undermine the emerging standards and procedures for
good, ethical decision-making about the sick and dying. We also
set off toward a terrifying land where the white gowns of physicians
are covered by the black hoods of executioners.26
The Executioner, 2003
Silkscreen
42
43
The Killing of the Mentally Ill
I remember very clearly the case of a mother watching her son
with mental retardation standing trial for his life. One could see she
had given a lot of thought to what she could do to comfort him,
or to make some connection with this son who had such a low
I.Q. Finally, the one thing she found to do all day was to give him
a small candy bar. That at least, was something he could understand
during his trial.27
The Killing of the Mentally Ill, 2002
Charcoal/Collage
44
45
We as a society are fed daily acts of violence. The legalized killing
of another human being seems to satisfy our violent and vengeful
impulses. We are becoming more grotesque than the most hideous
crimes—and we have allowed it to happen.
The Victim, 2003
Silkscreen
46
47
Racial minorities are being prosecuted under federal death penalty
law far beyond their proportion in the general population or the
population of criminal offenders. Analysis of prosecutions under
the federal death penalty provisions of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of
1988 reveals that 89 percent of the defendants selected for capital
prosecution have been either African-American or MexicanAmerican…race continues to play an unacceptable part in the
application of capital punishment in America today. 28
Racial discrimination pervades the US death penalty at every stage
of the process…There is only one way to eradicate ethnic bias, and
the echoes of racism, from death penalty procedures in the United
States—and this is by eradicating the death penalty itself.29
48
Abolish the Death Penalty, 2000
Silkscreen
We have perfected the art of institutional killing to the degree that
it has deadened our natural, quintessentially human response to death.30
49
50
Death Row Exonerations, 1973–2004
Between 1973 and February 2004, 113 inmates on
death row have been exonerated and freed.The most
common reasons for wrongful convictions are mistaken
eyewitness testimony, the false testimony of informants
and “incentivized witnesses,” incompetent lawyers,
defective or fraudulent scientific evidence, prosecutorial
and police misconduct, and false confessions. In recent
years, DNA played a role in overturning 12 of these
wrongful death row convictions.31
Exhibition Tour
Snite Museum of Art, Milly and Fritz Kaeser Mestrovic Studio Gallery, Notre Dame, IN. January11–February 22, 2004
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, IL. August 20–November 14, 2004
Julia C. Butridge Gallery, Dougherty Arts Center, Austin,TX. January 2005
Instituto Mexicano, San Antonio,TX. February 2005
Preview exhibition, Asian Resource Gallery, Oakland, CA. May–June, 2003
The exhibition tour will continue during the next several years.
Contact Lezlie Salkowitz-Montoya: 707-447-4194 or [email protected] regarding new bookings,
tour schedules, and new venues.
Works in the Exhibition
Amadou Diallo, 2001
Acrylic Painting, 51x42 inches
The Human Experiment, 2003
Silkscreen, 30x22 inches
George Jackson Lives, 1976
Offset Lithograph, 22x17.5 inches
Failed Electrocution, 2002
Charcoal, 24x18 inches
Mumia Abu-Jamal, 1999
Charcoal/Collage, 30x22 inches
The Killing of the Innocent, 2002
Executed, 2003
It’s a Matter of Social Control, 2002
A More Gentle Way of Killing..., 2003
Charcoal/Pastel 24x18 inches
The Executioner, 2003
The Killing of the Mentally Ill, 2002
Charcoal/Collage, 30x22 inches
The Victim, 2003
Ruth Snyder, first woman executed,
Sing Sing Prison 1928, 2002
Abolish the Death Penalty, 2000
The Electrocution of William Kemmler, 2002
52
Malaquias Montoya
Malaquias Montoya is a
leading figure in the
Chicano graphic arts
movement, a political and
socially conscious movement that expresses itself
primarily through the
mass production of silkscreened posters. Montoya’s works include acrylic
paintings, murals, washes, and drawings, but he is
primarily known for his silkscreen prints, which
have been exhibited both nationally and
internationally. He is credited by historians as being
one of the founders of the “social serigraphy”
movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid1960s. His visual expressions, art of protest, depict
the struggle and strength of humanity and the
necessity to unite behind that struggle. Like that of
many Chicana/o artists of his generation, Montoya’s
art is rooted in the tradition of the Taller de Gráfica
Popular, the Mexican printmakers of the 1920s,
’30s and ’40s, whose work expressed the need for
social and political reform for the Mexican
underprivileged. Montoya’s work uses powerful
images, which are combined with text to create his
socially critical messages.
© Alan Pogue
Montoya was raised in a family of seven children in
the San Joaquin Valley, California, by parents who
could not read or write. His father and mother were
divorced when he was ten and his mother continued
to work in the fields to support the four children
still remaining at home so they could pursue their
education. Since 1968 he has lectured and taught
at numerous universities and colleges in the
San Francisco Bay Area, including Stanford and
the University of California, Berkeley. He was
a professor at the California College of Arts and
Crafts for twelve years, during five of which he was
chair of the Ethnic Studies Department. As director
of the Taller de Artes Gráficas in Oakland for five
years, he produced various prints and conducted
many community art workshops. Montoya,
a visiting professor in the Art Department at the
University of Notre Dame in 2000, continues as
a Visiting Fellow of the Institute for Latino Studies,
also at Notre Dame.
Since 1989 Montoya has been a professor at the
University of California, Davis. His classes, through
the Departments of Chicana/o Studies and Art,
include silkscreening, poster making, and mural
painting, and focus on Chicana/o culture and history.
This exhibition features recently created silkscreen
images and paintings and related text panels dealing
with the death penalty and penal institutions—
inspired by the escalation of deaths at the hands of
the State of Texas in recent years. Montoya has
created images so powerful, so disturbing,
so introspective, that viewers will not be able to
examine them and walk away without feeling that
they have witnessed an atrocity that has been
committed in their names. As Montoya states,
“I agree with journalist Susan Blaustein when she
says that ‘we have perfected the art of institutional
killing to the degree that it has deadened our
natural, quintessentially human, response to death.’
I want to produce a body of work depicting the
horror of this act.” In these works Montoya
illuminates the inhumanity of the horrendous act
of premeditated murder committed by the state—
a situation where the use of punishment to
discourage crime encourages criminality.
Gina Costa
Snite Museum of Art
53
References and Notes
1.
Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion, and Death (New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1960), 199.
2.
Joseph Zirker, Malaquias Montoya (San Francisco, CA: San Francisco Art Institute, 1977), 10.
3
Tom Brune, “Convention 2000 / The Republicans / George W. Bush’s Texas / Strong Backer of Death Penalty,” Newsday,
August 3, 2000 (Washington Bureau, HighBeam™ Research, LLC).
http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1P1:30361052&refid=ink_d6&skeyword=&teaser=
Texas Moratorium Network (TMN), an all-volunteer, grassroots organization formed in August 2000 with the primary goal
of mobilizing statewide support for a moratorium on executions in Texas. http://texasmoratorium.org/?group=5
Death Penalty Information Center, 1320 18th Street NW, 5th Floor,Washington DC 20036.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/
54
4.
MUMIA 911:The Artists Network helped launch and organize the National Day of Art to Stop the Execution of Mumia
Abu-Jamal, held on September 11, 1999, 305 Madison Ave. #1166, New York City, NY 10165.
http://www.artistsnetwork.org/mumia/mumia911.html
5.
The Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, 298 Valencia St., San Francisco, CA 94103, 415-255-1085.
http://www.freemumia.org/
6.
Cynthia McFadden, Mike Gudgell, Steffan Tubbs, and Taina Hernandez, contributors, “‘I Am Not Guilty’ Scott Peterson
Pleads Not Guilty; Laci Peterson’s Family Vows Justice,” April 21, 2004, ABC News.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/SciTech/laci030421.html
7.
Hugo Adam Bedau, The Case against the Death Penalty (Washington, DC: Death Penalty Information Center and the American
Civil Liberties Union OnLine Archives, copyright 1997, in English and Spanish).
http://archive.aclu.org/library/case_against_death.html
8.
Frank Serpico, “Diallo Speaks to Serpico, Amadou’s Ghost,” The Village Voice, Features, March 8–14, 2000.
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0010/serpico.php
9.
Walter & Miriam Schneir, Invitation to an Inquest (Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1965), 1.
10.
Eve Goldberg and Linda Evans, “The Prison-Industrial Complex and the Global Economy,” posted at globalresearch.ca,
October 18, 2001. http://globalresearch.ca/articles/EVA110A.html
11.
Walter Rodney, “George Jackson: Black Revolutionary,” World History Archives, November 1971.
http:// www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/index-beb.html
12.
SPEAKOUT! Institute for Democratic Education and Culture, PO Box 99096, Emeryville, CA 94662, 510-601-0182.
http://www.speakersandartists.org/
13.
Richard M. Perloff, “The Untold, Forgotten Story of the Press and the Lynching of African Americans,” Department
of Communication, Cleveland State University, February 17, 2000.
http://www.csuohio.edu/clevelandstater/Archives/Vol 1/Issue 13/news/news2.html
14.
Joseph Ingle, The Machinery of Death, a Shocking Indictment of Capital Punishment in the United States (New York: Amnesty
International USA, 1995), 114.
15.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), “The Death Penalty Has No Beneficial Effect on Murder Rates,”
Fact Sheet: Deterrence. http://www.ncadp.org/fact_sheet5.html
16.
The Oracle Education Foundation, a California not-for-profit corporation, “When Life Generates Death (Legally),”
ThinkQuest: Death Penalty. http://library.thinkquest.org/23685/data/hanging.html
17.
Florida Corrections Commission, 725 South Calhoun Street, Suite 109 Bloxham Building,Tallahassee, FL 32301.
http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/
18.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, speech delivered at the 1990 annual dinner in honor of the judiciary, American Bar
Association, and quoted in the National Law Journal, Feb. 8, 1993. www.deathpenaltyinfo.org.
19.
Florida Corrections Commission. http://www.fcc.state.fl.us/
20.
Craig Brandon, The Electric Chair, an Unnatural American History (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company
Inc. Publishers, 1999), 176–77.
21.
Amnesty International USA, 322 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10001, “Executions in the USA since 76.”
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/listbyyear.do
22.
Walter and Miriam Schneir, Invitation to an Inquest, 233.
23.
Richard C. Dieter, “The Future of the Death Penalty in the US: A Texas-Sized Crisis,” Death Penalty Information
Center, May 1994. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=489
24.
Amnesty International USA, “According to Witnesses...” http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish
25.
Kevin Bonsor, “How Lethal Injection Works.” http://people.howstuffworks.com/lethal-injection.htm
26.
Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell, Who Owns Death? Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of
Executions (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Inc.), 96.
27.
Ronald W. Conley, Ruth Luckasson, and George N. Bouthilet, The Criminal Justice System and Mental Retardation:
Defendants and Victims (Baltimore: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co., 1992).
28.
Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights Committee on the Judiciary, “Racial Disparities in Federal Death
Penalty Prosecutions 1988-1994,” Staff Report, One Hundred Third Congress, Second Session, March 1994.
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=528
29.
Amnesty International, “Killing with Prejudice: Race and the Death Penalty in the USA,” May 1999.
Quoted at http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/racialprejudices.html
30.
Susan Blaustein, “Witness to Another Execution,” Harpers Magazine, May 1994, p. 53.
31.
Alan Gell, “Death Row Exonerations, 1973–2004,” latest release recorded Feb. 18, 2004.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0908211/html
An electronic version of this catalogue, with live links, can be viewed online at www.malaquiasmontoya.com and
www.nd.edu/~latino/art.
55
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this catalogue will go to the following
organizations actively working to abolish the death penalty.
THE NATIONAL COALITION TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY provides information, advocates for public policy, and mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions that share our unconditional rejection of capital punishment. Our commitment to abolition of the death penalty is rooted in several critical concerns. First and foremost, the death penalty devalues all human life—eliminating the possibility for transformation of spirit that is intrinsic to humanity. Secondly, the death penalty is fallible and
irrevocable—over one hundred people have been released from death row on grounds of innocence in
this “modern era” of capital punishment.Thirdly, the death penalty continues to be tainted with race and
class bias. It is overwhelming a punishment reserved for the poor (95 percent of the over 3,700 people
under death sentence could not afford a private attorney) and for racial minorities (55 percent are people of color). Finally, the death penalty is a violation of our most fundamental human rights—indeed, the
United States is the only western democracy that still uses the death penalty as a form of punishment.
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
920 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
202-543-9577
www.ncadp.org
CITIZENS UNITED AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY works to end the death penalty in the United
States through aggressive campaigns of public education, and the promotion of tactical grassroots activism.
Invigorated education involves the use of mass media to effectively communicate to the US public the
message that the death penalty is bad public policy on economic, moral, and social grounds. To effect
political change, alternatives to the death penalty must be made attractive to the majority of US voters.
Mass public education must be reinforced at the grassroots level by local organizations and respected individuals. Politicians must be provided the support to lead on this issue, even in the face of unpopular public sentiment. CUADP is committed to act as a catalyst for continued development and implementation
of a national grassroots strategy.
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
PMB 335
2603 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hwy
Gainesville, FL 32609
800-973-6548
[email protected]
JOURNEY OF HOPE...FROM VIOLENCE TO HEALING is an organization led by murder victim
family members that conducts public education speaking tours and addresses alternatives to the death
penalty. Journey “storytellers” come from all walks of life and represent the full spectrum and diversity
of faith, color and economic situation. They are real people who know first hand the aftermath of the
insanity and horror of murder.They recount their tragedies and their struggles to heal as a way of opening dialogue on the death penalty in schools, colleges, churches, and other venues.The Journey spotlights
murder victims’ family members who choose not to seek revenge and instead select the path of love and
compassion for all of humanity. Forgiveness is seen as a strength and as a way of healing. The greatest
resources of the Journey are the people who are a part of it.
Journey of Hope…From Violence to Healing, Inc.
PO Box 210390
Anchorage,AK 99521-0390
877-9-24GIVE (4483)
http://www.journeyofhope.org/
56
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this catalogue will go
to organizations actively working to abolish the death penalty.

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