The holiday season can be a really difficult and isolating time for folks inside, especially for our Black & Pink National family who might not have loved ones to connect with on the outside. Our holiday cards help to bring moments of joy, connection, and community to our members - But we need your help!
About the Artwork!
Black & Pink National is grateful to have collaborated with Tiana Conyers on the artwork for this year’s campaign!
Tiana Conyers is a 23-year-old Black illustrator who grew up in North Omaha, Nebraska and among her many artistic achievements, her greatest yet has been dropping out of college and pursuing freelance art. She’s seen numerous artistic achievements and has worked with a number of clients including The ACLU of Nebraska, LoadingReadyRun, and The Union for Contemporary Art. What started out as Conyers staying up too late watching anime and playing video games has flourished into a healthy obsession with designing characters, drawing comics, and an undying love for all things brightly colored. As a fat, queer, Black woman, Conyers is constantly seeking out people who take up space in the world like her and seeking to curate spaces in this world, fictional worlds, and worlds yet undiscovered. Follow Tiana on social media @tianaconyersart.
Tiana shares her inspiration for the artwork she created:
The goal of this artwork was to depict the ways in which we still strive to connect with each other by peeking into each other’s lives through windows. Whether that be virtual windows, delivery windows, apartment windows– the viewer gets to look into the lives of each person and
understand how they connect with their loved ones, those around them, and those seemingly worlds away.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented numerous barriers between us that we’ve never faced before, but despite mountains between us, we overcome these odds in order to remain connected. I hope it resonates that, like ropes in a net, we are fragile beings but together we are strong and capable of seemingly insurmountable odds. It’s my hope that this artwork brings a sense of connection and community to you. Please know that you are loved and cared about.
Join the Campaign!
The holiday cards our community sends during our annual holiday card campaigns help to bring moments of joy, connection, and community to our inside family, and serve to send a clear message to correctional staff and other incarcerated people that people on the outside are watching out for and care for our incarcerated members.
Please visit our PenPal Pairing Site where we have included a holiday feature allowing community members to receive the contact information for 5, 10, or 15 inside members, and send some holiday love to our incarcerated family!
Please print off this holiday letter (color version, black & white version) and make sure to write a personalized holiday greeting to make each of your assigned members feel seen, affirmed, and cared for this holiday season. (Please note: If you feel uncomfortable including your own return address, please use Black & Pink National’s Inside Member Mailing address: 6223 Maple St #4600, Omaha, NE 68104)
For our community who are already connected with PenPals, we hope that you will print our special holiday letter (color version, black & white version) to send to your inside loved ones!
Please share this information far and wide to help us send holiday cards to all of the more than 19,000 incarcerated members who are signed up for the PenPal Program! Last year this community mobilized to make sure each member received *two* holiday cards, and we’d love to reach that again – Check out this toolkit for community leaders and mobilize your community to send some holiday care!