Grief Not Guilty: Reclaiming My Time

December 5, 2024 – February 28, 2025

Grief Not Guilty: Reclaiming My Time is Gary Tyler’s story of resilience and artistry. At 16, he was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death for the 1974 murder of a white student. The shooting occurred as Tyler, a Black high school sophomore in Louisiana, was on a school bus ambushed by a segregationist mob. Amid the chaos, a shot killed 13-year-old Timothy Weber. Tyler, accused despite insufficient evidence and the coerced testimonies of witnesses, was convicted by an all-white jury and given the death penalty. Although a federal court later deemed his conviction unconstitutional, Tyler spent 41 years in Angola prison before his eventual release in 2016.

In prison Tyler learned quilting, a craft passed down from his mother and grandmother. Through quilts, he found a way to express and preserve his humanity. Sewing, too, was a way to connect with his late mother and a source of solace, as he and others sewed quilts to raise funds for the prison hospice program. Despite his release, Tyler was forced to plead guilty to manslaughter to gain parole, meaning he does not qualify for compensation or exoneree status. The exhibition is complemented by the monocromatic floral designs of Quantavia Love. 

About the Artist: Gary Tyler

Gary Tyler’s story embodies resilience in the face of profound injustice. Convicted at the age of 16 and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, Tyler spent 41 years incarcerated in Louisiana’s Angola prison before his release in 2016. His case has become a symbol of the systemic racial inequalities in the U.S. justice system. While incarcerated, Tyler turned to quilting for self-expression and healing. His quilts, celebrated for their intricate beauty and profound symbolism, use the butterfly as a recurring motif, representing transformation and liberation. “I saw my time in prison as a cocoon,” Tyler explains. “Now that I am free, I feel like a butterfly, embracing a new life filled with hope and purpose.”

Art by Gary Tyler, Wreath by Quantavia Love.