Convicted and Leased
The Score Series
Convicted and Leased, 2025
Michaiyla Carmichael
Original 12 x 9 inches
Marker on paper
A reinterpretation of a horrifying image of a Seminole County, Georgia “prisoner” being punished. When slavery was abolishished, it continued by another name—Convict Leasing. With Black Codes creating laws that criminalized regular behaviors, formerly enslaved people, again, became a primary souce of free labor and cruel punishment. This practice exploited the loop-hole of the 13th Amendment, fueling mass incarceration for generations to come.