File:\New_Order\Normal_Life\Fire_Island

Overview

Since creative activity is often associated with "those with surplus time and resources," political prisoners who dedicate their labor to outcomes unrelated to survival might seem to waste their time and strength. Yet, the deprivation of social roles, the coercion of total authority, and the abolition of existing orders all contribute to an intense need to establish an alternative order of one’s own. The semi-artistic practices performed by political prisoners can be seen as an attempt to reclaim or redeem their “normal lives.”