Art from Guantanamo

Muhammad al-Ansi was born in Yemen and was held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps for a total of 15 years under extrajudicial detention practices. He alleges that he was tortured during his incarceration, saying that painting helped him cope with the conditions at Guantanamo. Creating landscapes and flowers helped him escape the reality of everyday life at the notorious prison.

"Vertigo at Guantanamo" is the title of this watercolor by Pakistani inmate Ammar Al-Baluchi. Al-Baluchi has been held at Guantanamo for more than 10 years, and was held at a series of CIA prisons for more than three years before that. His paintings are a direct response to the conditions he has had to suffer in custody, including allegations of torture.

Ahmed Rabbani is another Pakistani inmate at Guantanamo who was held at a number of CIA detention facilities for two years before his transfer to the notorious prison on the island of Cuba. Like most other detainees there, Rabbani is accused of having links to the 9/11 attacks and is alleged of being a member of al Qaeda. His paintings, however, speak of ideas far removed from terrorism.

When the detainees at Guantanamo ran out of regular paint they had to improvise with other materials. Khalid Qasim, who is one of 41 prisoners still held at Guantanamo Bay and is alleged of a series of crimes as a "enemy combatant" including training for jihad, used coffee powder and sand to finish this depiction of the Titanic out at sea.

The sea appears to play a central role in many of the paintings created by Guantanamo detainees. The waves crashing against the bay are can apparently be heard from all prison cells. Abdel Malik Al Rahabi, who was released in 2016 after spending 15 years at Guantanamo, painted this seaside cityscape from memory.

Images of the body of drowned Syrian refugee boy Aylan Kurdi went around the world in 2015 and even made it into the prison cells at Guantanamo, after former US President Barack Obama allowed inmates to have access to television in 2008. Yemeni inmate Muhammad al-Ansi, who was transferred to custody in Oman in early 2017, painted this image after hearing of the tragic event.

The exhibition "Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantanamo" is open to the public at the "President's Gallery" at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a renowned liberal arts school in Manhattan. The art show has attracted a lot of controversy throughout the US. The 36 art works on display can still be seen until January 26, 2018.

Despite the pledge from former US President Barack Obama to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, the notorious prison facility is still operating. When Obama started his presidency there were 242 inmates at Guantanamo. By the end of 2017, only 41 remained. It is unclear if or when they might be released or transferred to other facilities.