About The Rikers Public Memory Project

The Rikers Public Memory Project collects and makes visible the stories of people most impacted by Rikers Island, to mobilize action toward repairing its generational harms and interrupting the dehumanizing narratives about people harmed by Rikers.  

Works in The Rikers Public Memory Project’s installation are by Medar de la Cruz (Artist), and Helen Skipper and Edwin Santana (Speakers).

The Rikers Public Memory Project: A Community Truth and Healing Process (RPMP) is the outcome of an ongoing partnership between Freedom Agenda, Create Forward, and the Humanities Action Lab. Together they sought to explore how collective memory can be used as a strategic organizing tool in the movement to close Rikers Island.  We document and make visible the impact of Rikers Island by asking:

  • What should we remember about Rikers?

  • How should we remember Rikers?

  • Why should we remember Rikers?

Rikers Public Memory Project Artist
Medar de la Cruz

Rikers Public Memory Project Speakers
Helen Skipper and Edwin Santana

From left to right:
Medar de la Cruz , Remembering Rikers, 2023. Ink and acrylic on paper, 28.5 x 22.5 inches each (framed), portrait of Helen “Skip” Skipper Rikers Public Memory Project.
Helen “Skip” Skipper & The Rikers Public Memory Project, Interview with Skip, 2023. Audio recording, 03:10 minutes.
Edwin Santana & The Rikers Public Memory Project, Interview with Edwin, 2020. Audio recording, 04:01 minutes.
Medar De la Cruz, Remembering Rikers, 2023. Ink and acrylic on paper 28.5 x 22.5 inches each (framed), portrait of Edwin Santana Rikers Public Memory Project.

Visual Description:

Medar de la Cruz, Remembering Rikers, 2023, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 24 x 36 inches.
Two framed mixed media portraits of Helen Skipper are situated side by side. In the painting on the right Skipper’s face is fully sketched and in the background are orange squares that illustrate black, gray, and white jail items as: a food tray, a prison bed, a public phone, and a barbed fence, among others. 

In the painting on the left, Skipper’s portrait is only outlined, and in the background are orange squares that illustrate mostly blue and white of the same jail items.

Medar de la Cruz, Remembering Rikers, 2023, Acrylic and watercolor on paper, 24 x 36 inches.
Two framed mixed media portraits of Edwin Santana are situated side by side. In the painting on the right Santana’s face is fully sketched and in the background are orange squares that illustrate black, gray, and white jail items and sites, as: a bus, a cap, a prison lunch table, a book, and the Rikers Island Jail facility, among others.

In the painting on the left, Santana’s face is only outlined, and in the background are orange squares that illustrate mostly blue and white of the same jail items and sites.

Rikers Public Memory Project: Audio
A small audio player alongside headphones and transcripts of the audio text on paper are displayed on the wall.