We are proud to announce our first Artist in Residence Alberto Lule. Lule began making art while serving a thirteen-year sentence in a California Prison. He uses readymades and mixed media installations to examine and critique mass incarceration and the prison industrial complex in the United States, particularly the California prison system.“Art made the prison walls disappear, allowing me to overcome not only the prison I was physically in but also the mental prison I had placed myself in before my sentence.”

@tierrabuenatattoos
bertolule.weebly.com

Lule is also part of The Underground Scholars Initiative at UCLA, which focuses on supporting students in higher learning who identify as Formerly Incarcerated and Students who have been directly impacted by the California criminal justice system, as well as students who are currently incarcerated. You can learn more at @undergroundscholarsinitiative and @bruinundergroundscholars on Instagram.

Please contact Alberto at alule@g.ucla.edu if you’d like to make an appointment to see his work in person.