"I can be inspired by just about anything when putting pieces together. So much of art is realized by what happens around us. When I see a tragic event on the news, I'll think about how to bring some sort of artistic closure to it. Even when I see positive happenings out there, I'll get the wheels turning in my head.

I hope viewers will see ME through the art. What I mean by that is: I've worked so hard to try and recuse myself of the negative connotations associated with my prison sentence. I committed a crime that I'm ashamed of but I know that crime isn't a definition of who I truly am. My art can be that. It can be a visual of my hard work to be a genuinely better human being."

Accomplishments:

• Class of '99 graduate of Seventy-First High School in Fayetteville, NC

• Class of '22 graduate of the College at Southeastern with a Bachelor's in Pastoral Ministry w/ Emphasis on Adult Counseling

• Graduated as the first practicing Muslim to complete the NC Field Minister program @ Nash Correctional Institution in December '22

• Artwork featured in exhibits like "Incarceration and Creation: Art as a Human Need" (2021), " Degrees of Separation" (2022), "Sotto Voce" (2022), and "Emergence" (2022)

• Eager to accept commissions for graphite drawings specifically

• Am always ready to do speaking engagements via telephone interviews due to incarceration limitations. Have already recorded various episodes for the Prison Pod podcast hosted by Valerie Cartonio as well as other outlets. Interviews based around prison experiences (life as an ex-gang member in prison, the care and love I have for my faith [Islam] as a Muslim, art as a therapeutic need in the carceral environment, etc.)

• Am very encouraged to engage kids with the intention of steering them away from gangs and prison in general as a result of my own experiences.

Follow Robert on IG: @robertsprisonblues