I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I was in a youth home when I was a shorty, and I always liked to work with my hands when I had the chance. As a teenager, I got caught up in gangs and wound up in prison when I was only 16. I first started making art when I took a paper mache class in prison, and that’s when I found out that I had some internal skills. I had no training, but the art just came out of me like I had been doing it all my life.

When I was released in 1981, I enrolled in Columbia University, but I got caught up again and landed back in prison ten months later. One day, the guards came by my cell wondering where I got the artwork. They couldn’t believe that I had made it all myself. Eventually, I got special permission from the warden to make art in my cell, and that’s what I became known for. I also educated myself in prison and learned about all of the world’s religions.

In 2009 I was released on parole and came to Atlanta to take care of my mother. She couldn’t believe the stuff that I was making just from newspaper and water.

In 2014 I moved to English Avenue and joined the Historic Westside Cultural Arts Council, which hosts the annual Festival of Lights celebration. All of the art on this site represents my people’s history and each year of being a part of the Festival.

Today I have been out of prison for more than a decade and I’m grateful to the Festival of Lights for giving me something positive to focus on and a reason to make art.

Peace and love,

Brother El