Humanize the Numbers is a community-engaged course in the Prison Creative Arts Project curriculum.

Over the course of a semester, U-M students drive to a Michigan state prison every week to teach a group of incarcerated men the fundamentals of photography. They collaborate with this group on a creative photography project, which often serves to educate the public about the issues of the carceral state. 

Wingfield centers collaboration and partnership between the students and the incarcerated men in the course design. Incarcerated participants take an active role in the structure and design of the project.

Each participant brings their own expertise and knowledge into the room — others learn from them, while they learn from others. Each participant fills in gaps in their knowledge, learning from and alongside their collaborators.

The impact on U-M students comes from several angles: They learn about the complexity and expansiveness of the criminal legal system and its deep impact on individuals and society. The experience often challenges students’ assumptions and preconceived ideas about mass incarceration and incarcerated people.

They also develop skills around collaborative engagement, meeting partners as peers working toward a common goal, rather than authorities in the field conveying their scholarship.

U-M alumna Sarah Posner described it as “one of the most unusual and significant creative experiences I’ve had in my life.”

Stone Stewart, another U-M alum, discussed the lasting impact the course had on “my values as a person and practitioner. Through Isaac’s teaching and the Humanize the Numbers course, I’ve had the fortune of witnessing creativity materialize in places where society has chosen to invest only the bare minimum or not at all.”

Above photo:

Isaac Wingfield, Residential College, LSA