Sufficient Magic: Queer Prison Comix as Liberation Praxis

Abstract

Prison art has many functions, from representation to healing to rehabilitation, and it can make use of many different kinds of media, including comix. For prison abolitionists, prison art is most powerful when it is connected to larger struggles against the criminal punishment system, and comix offer unique affordances to abolitionist movements. From cells to movement blur to the gutter, comix enable artists to interrogate carcerality and gendered oppression simultaneously. Through close readings of comix and correspondence with artists and organizers, this article examines the world-making praxis of incarcerated trans artists who are creating and distributing original comix with the abolitionist organization ABO Comix. While most scholarship on prison art explores state-sanctioned programs, ABO Comix is independent from the prison system, producing alternative possibilities as well as unique challenges for artists and organizers. In comix by trans artist Krysta Morningstarr* as well as other artists, incarcerated LGBTQ artists use comix as a form of world-making, mutual aid, and collective praxis within and beyond the prison borders.