The People’s Paper Co-op (PPC), our women-powered, women-centered art and advocacy project, has unveiled its 2023 artwork designed to support the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund’s annual Black Mama’s Bail Out Campaign. The Bail Fund is trying to raise $150,000 to free Black women and caregivers from jail for Mother’s Day.

Since 2018, the People’s Paper Co-op has collaborated with the Philadelphia Community Bail Fund to raise money to #FreeBlackMamas. The PPC Art and Activism fellows, a group of powerful, formerly incarcerated women, have collaborated with artists from across North America to create abolitionist art for purchase. 

100 percent of the proceeds of their art sales go to the Fund to support the campaign. The PPC’s artwork has raised over $200,000 for the cause in the last four years.

Here is a look at this year’s artwork and messages from the artists about what inspired them.

“Imagination is the first step towards liberation, and I was honored to help bring the PPC Art and Activism Fellows’ vision of freedom to life. Our mothers don’t belong behind bars, they deserve to be at home in their communities thriving. Together we can imagine a world that supports our families by investing into jobs, education, housing, and healthcare instead of prisons and policing.”

“This project means a lot because it’s super important to be able to use my work as a tool to help communities. I hope people can recognize themselves in my poster but especially that the poster gives hope for a better future where we can all be free.”

“My heart has always been of the people and it will always be of the people – we deserve better, we demand better. This is a call for freedom from dehumanization and being treated as disposable; it’s a call for healing, for justice, for living liberated lives in safety and community.”

“I participated in this project because I wanted to use my artistry to support a campaign that I believe in. Art has the power to change the world, and in this campaign, it can give black mothers FREEDOM.”

“The cash bail system keeps innocent people in jail who can’t afford bail, separating children from their parents. I hope that every person who sees these posters makes a big donation so that families can be together on Mother’s Day.”

“The beautiful words created by this year’s PPC fellows that I highlighted in my poster summarize very eloquently what I hope people will think and talk about in response to it and also why I wanted to be a part of this project. I wish that we will collectively learn that people who have been through incarceration, and who have persevered and transformed despite endless barriers, are the very people whose freedom and leadership is essential to create a more safe, free, and just world.”

“This project was an exciting opportunity to use my skills to honor these wonderful women. I hope that people look at my image and think of the humanity of these women and of the efforts we can all make to treat each other with care.”

“It has been an honor to be part of this year’s cohort of illustrators working to support the PPC in their goal to keep women free. I was so inspired to hear firsthand the stories, poems, and dreams and be entrusted to translate them into this poster, with multiple people sharing how their experiences led towards solidarity, mentorship, and hope. In this image, I hope to honor these sentiments and invite viewers to take action and join arms with us towards freedom.”

“I am so honored to be working alongside People’s Paper Co-op on this project to create art that helps bring moms home and aims to liberate women. Art is my most powerful weapon, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to be part of the fight!” 

“I chose to be a part of this project because I know abolition is the only way forward and as an artist I get to create the visual language that helps us envision this free future. It’s such a privilege to work directly with folks who have been system impacted as they are the experts on how we transform justice.”

“I wanted to be a part of this project because for 5 years, I’ve met the kindest, strongest, and softest people in Mama’s bailout who just want to uplift and be heard. I want people to see all of that and more with this design; the beauty and strength in these women.”

To support this year’s campaign, visit the People’s Paper Co-op’s online store. It will remain up through the end of June to support the Bail Fund as they continue freeing folks past Mother’s Day. Buy Art, Free Mamas!