Soteria, Upstate artist partner for public display at Greenville-Spartanburg airport
A new art exhibition was installed on the first floor of Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport May 12.
“Correspondencia” was created by local artist and Oyé Art Studios co-founder Rey Alfonso in collaboration with local nonprofit affiliate Soteria at Work. The piece depicts a letter representing correspondence from incarcerated people. Soteria At Work is a subsidiary of Soteria CDC, a Greenville-based nonprofit focused on preventing recidivism. The wood shop teaches formerly incarcerated individuals a trade in custom carpentry.
Alfonso said the piece was very personal in a way that went behind his history. Alfonso is Cuban and left that country when he was 16. He saw this piece as a way to give back to Greenville, the country he loves and all the people in it — regardless of economic standing.
“Having it public is a big deal,” Alfonso said. “They say art is for the elite, people who can afford it, (but) to me art should be a little bit more public so everybody can enjoy it.”
Alfonso, along with interns at Soteria, gathered materials to include in the piece and hand-carved phrases. The artist and the nonprofit collected materials from the Judson and Woodside mill communities. Specifically, it is made up of roofing boards from old mill houses.
“It means a lot because it shows the collaboration and community of a nonprofit that’s working with men and women who are returning from prison, and the artist community in the airport, which is a great way to show community and diversity and how we all need each other,” said Soteria founder Jerry Blassingame. “They’re looking at people who are coming out of prison not as second-class citizens but looking at people who are assets.”
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