Incarcerated Scholars Conference Art Gallery 2026

The Metaphorical Buffalo

Mr. Alvin Smith

B.A., Hope-Western Prison Education Program, Class of 2025

Michigan

Artist Statement

The Metaphysical Buffalo speaks to social issues that plague many underprivileged communities. It asks an overarching question of, when a deteriorated urban neighborhood gets gentrified or renovated, do the liquor stores remain there after the area in beautified?
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Or, similarly to early Indigenous people of America who wisely followed the Buffalo as a means of survival, do these liquor stores follow the underprivileged communities?

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