Art Studio for Wrongfully Imprisoned Ndume

"Art saved my life."

Ndume Olatushani explains how he endured 28 years of wrongful imprisonment--including 20 years on death row--for a murder he did not commit in a state he had never visited.

Now a Denver working father, husband, anti-death-penalty advocate, and artist, Ndume is on the cusp of realizing his long-shelved dream of having an art studio to focus on his promising, provacative, narrative painting series depicting lynchings in America. WE'VE LOCATED A MODEST DENVER STUDIO* FOR NDUME TO RESUME HIS IMPORTANT ART PURSUITS; WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FUND THE FIRST YEAR OF HIS RENT--$380 MONTHLY, totaling $4560.

Will you consider supporting his goal? Any amount, from a month of rent to a day of rent is deeply appreciated. The studio lease begins in December 2021--so the fundraising goal date is December 15.

I recently met Ndume at a small fundraiser for the Korey Wise Innocence Project (affiliated with The University of Colorado); his wife, Anne-Marie Moyes, is the executive director. She is the driving force behind Ndume's hard-fought exoneration. The event organizers then connected Ndume with me to discuss his art career goals, which led to the obvious need for a place to focus on his painting. Note that he has shown his work at venues from Martha's Vineyard to Nashville, and several academic institutions have already expressed an interest in his lynching series.

A little more background on Ndume's story:

In 1985, Ndume Olatushani was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death in Tennessee for a murder he did not commit. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Ndume had never even visited the state of Tennessee before he was brought to Memphis to stand trial. The prosecution won a conviction by burying evidence of Ndume’s innocence and seating an all-white jury to convict him.

Ndume spent 28 years in maximum security prisons, 20 of those on death row. His story is one of human resilience, perseverance, and the power of art to change lives.

While on death row, Ndume began to draw and then taught himself to paint. Art allowed him to exist in a state of harmony and tranquility, in spite of being wrongfully locked up. Ndume says, "I found freedom locked in a 4 x 9 foot cell, for 23 hours a day, living in the shadow of death."

After 20 years on death row, Ndume’s death sentence was overturned and he was moved to the general prison population. He spent another eight years in prison before a court finally overturned his conviction. On June 1, 2012, he was released from the Shelby County Jail in Memphis.

Ndume travels nationally and internationally speaking out against the death penalty. He also works with young people, helping them to find their own inner artist and teaching them about the perils of making the wrong decisions.

*Ndume's prospective studio is located at Denver's Prism Workspaces, where I also have a studio. He is also thrilled to become part of this art community as he continues to evolve as a painter and visual storyteller.

NdumeArt