About the Author
Gary Tyler is the author of Stitching Freedom, a gripping memoir of his wrongful conviction and time spent in Angola Prison. Tyler is also the recipient of the 2024 Frieze LA Impact Prize, which recognizes artists who use their art to address social justice issues.
In 1974, at age sixteen, Tyler was wrongfully charged with shooting a white teenager. A year later an all-white jury convicted him of murder. At the time, he was the youngest prisoner on death row in the United States. During his years at Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, Tyler’s story galvanized support from people around the world. Amnesty International and investigative reporters documented the brutal treatment, fabricated evidence, recanted testimony, and repeated injustices that led to Tyler’s sentencing. He endured 42 years in prison until he was finally released in 2016 after the US Supreme Court ruled his sentencing unconstitutional—but he was never exonerated.
While incarcerated, Tyler participated in the prison hospice program, where he mastered the art of quilting and learned the transformative power of art. His memoir, Stitching Freedom, details the systemic injustice at the center of the prison system and is a remarkable story of pride, forgiveness, community, and triumph. With the help of activists such as Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace on the inside, and relentless support from a mass movement on the outside, Tyler shows how he learned to reject bitterness, fight for freedom, and reclaim his power.
Tyler is now a fiber artist, living and working in Los Angeles, California. Although his artistic practice was born out of injustice, it generates hope. Tyler is a 2019 and 2020 Art Matters Awardee and a 2024 Right of Return Fellow, with his work in several museums, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
In his keynotes, Tyler speaks about his time in Angola Prison, the injustices that led him there, and how he not only survived, but triumphed. He pays tribute to other incarcerated individuals who became his guardians and mentors, and describes the path to discovering himself as an artist.
Raves and Reviews
What’s most moving about this extraordinary book isn’t Gary Tyler’s innocence, but his resilience and steadfast commitment to justice for all in a system designed to oppress, divide and destroy. He came to understand that system and transcend it because of the loving support and education from people in maximum security who’d been labeled the ‘worst of the worst.’ In the drama club and throughout his time at Angola, Gary Tyler exemplified the club’s motto, ‘We are the Willing’ – becoming a man willing to provide care, fight injustice and create beauty. Now he’s willing to tell the truth about what happened and why, to magnify defiance and hope.”
—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
Stitching Freedom is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and to the idea that people can endure great hardship without being hardened by it. This is a moment of unparalleled peril to the nation’s democratic institutions as well as to its aspirations of being a beacon of liberty. There will be many battles. Some will lead to victories, some to defeats. And there will be people like Gary Tyler, who will find reasons to fight these battles with courage, purpose, and even joy in their hearts.”
—The Progressive
People have always wondered why Gary Tyler didn’t become criminal, bitter, or insane. This riveting book shows why. He refused to let the system take his life, his spirit, his intelligence, his humanity. I watched Gary find mentors and then become one to many inmates. He became an actor, playwright, and director. He turned fabric into art. He eased the passage of dying men. He let nothing deter his march to justice, to freedom – and we are all the beneficiaries.”
—Wilbert Rideau, former editor of The Angolite, award-winning author of In the Place of Justice
In my life I have had the opportunity to speak up for five men who were wrongfully convicted and watch them walk out of prison. In each case, they have taught me something about what freedom means. Gary Tyler’s account of his own experience is another lesson in freedom—one we sorely need in this moment.”
—Rev. William J. Barber, II, author of White Poverty
Gary Tyler’s story is a powerful testament to resilience and the transformative power of community and story telling.”
—Cyntoia Brown Long, author of Free Cyntoia
Stitching Freedom is both compelling and incisive in its ability to bring the reader in real close. This is not only a story of great courage and humility, but of an unparalleled patience fueled by a fiery zeal to NOT BE BROKEN by the conditions of institutional injustice. Gary Tyler had to live with his certain innocence and his commitment to freedom, methodically, one day at a time… for 15,180 days. His resilience is contagious.”
—Kate Capshaw, Artist and co-founder of the Hearthland Foundation
Something in Gary Tyler’s nature led him to become a man described by his attorney as ‘a remarkable human being’ who not only endured the torture and horror of a hell-hole designed to destroy human beings deemed ‘lesser,’ but become a leader, a teacher, an artist, a man who was escorted to Angola’s gate at discharge by the warden who said goodbye ‘with tears in his eyes.’ Stitching Freedom imbues one with hope for the human race.”
—Mike Farrell, “BJ” from “M*A*S*H” and author of Just Call Me Mike
As moving and important a book as I have read in eons. Tyler’s struggle to hold onto his humanity and emerge battered but triumphant is a powerful story unto itself, but that’s not why people should read this book. Tyler’s journey urgently matters given the ways that dehumanizing prisoners and debasing constitutional due process have become a central feature of US politics. His story acts as a bracing condemnation of an administration off the rails; an administration that regularly mocks and debases those trapped in a deeply racist prison industrial complex. Tyler and his co-author Ellen Bravo have gifted us all a chance to look in the mirror. May we be brave enough to open our eyes.”
—Dave Zirin, author of The Kaepernick Effect
Some people do become extraordinary beings, but we are rarely witness to this alchemy. In Stitching Freedom Gary Tyler has offered us a record of such an evolution of consciousness. Having suffered monstrous cruelty, he has emerged as an astute and resilient person of deep empathy and creativity. His story is devastating but ultimately triumphant. And we are so fortunate that he has chosen to share it with us.”
—Carol Becker, Dean Emerita of the Columbia School of Arts and author of George’s Daughter
Despite decades of wrongful incarceration, Gary found strength and hope. Stitching Freedom is a powerful testament to his resilience, unwavering spirit, and his fight for justice. Gary’s story reminds us that the human spirit can persevere even when facing the worst. This book is a crucial part of the ongoing conversation about changing our criminal justice system.”
—Norris Henderson, Executive Director, VOTE (Voice of the Experienced)
Stitching Freedom arrives as a timely and heartfelt gift, offering strength and inspiration amid turbulent times. An anchor of hope and courage, Gary Tyler’s story is not just one of injustice but a powerful testament to love, kindness, and the resilience of the human spirit. It demonstrates that truth and justice will ultimately prevail because even in darkness, the light always shines through.”
—Jennifer Wu-Schwab, host of The Founder Spirit
In the Media
“Louisiana prisoner freed after 41 years of controversial sentence”
“He Was Wrongfully Imprisoned for 41 Years. Now He Has His First Solo Exhibition”
“I Was Put on Death Row at 17 for a Crime I Didn’t Commit. Here’s the Story of My Trial.”
“Gary Tyler’s Powerful Story Is Woven Throughout New Exhibition, ‘We Are The Willing’”
“Gary Tyler: the quilt artist who speaks up for the unjustly incarcerated”
“Textile artist Gary Tyler wins 2024 Frieze Los Angeles Impact Prize”
