Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Contributors to the project explore how oral history can challenge dominant narratives and document the lived realities of incarceration. For event details and more, visit nypl.org/events/programs/2026/04/29/rikers-public-memory-project
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Coinciding with the opening of the Rikers Public Memory Project oral history collection at the Library, this archive—consisting of ninety interviews conducted between 2018 and 2021—preserves and highlights the stories of those most impacted by Rikers Island, including formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. A panel bringing together voices behind the project discusses how these histories confront generational harms and challenge dehumanizing narratives—while also exploring how public memory can advance reparative justice.
Featuring:
Shana Russell, Historian and Teacher
Edwin Santana, Filmmaker and Photographer
Turquoise Martin, RPMP Narrator
Tamara Santibañez, Oral Historian and Interdisciplinary Artist
This program will open with a short presentation by Interim Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts Meredith Mann on the Library’s role in acquiring and preserving the collection.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Shana Russell is an educator, historian, and storyteller who is currently an assistant professor of literature at Bard High School Early College in Newark. She serves as the chief historian of the Rikers Public Memory Project. Dr. Russell has compiled over two centuries of history of Rikers Island and documented resistance to its horrors dating back to the 19th century. She is currently compiling this research into a book, which will be the first time this historical narrative will appear in print. She hopes her work will serve as a catalyst to the overdue closing of Torture Island and reparative justice for its survivors.
Edwin Santana is a Puerto Rican New Yorker, self-taught filmmaker/photographer, and formerly incarcerated individual, who has dedicated his life to social justice. He founded the company, TUFF ART MEDIA, and his advocacy work revolves around Closing Riker's and decarcerating NYC. He is also works as a community organizer at Freedom Agenda.
As a community advocate and native New Yorker, Turquoise J. Martin is deeply rooted in restorative justice reform, supporting initiatives such as Close Rikers, HALT Solitary, and the decriminalization of sex work. Her advocacy is both personal and purposeful, having experienced the incarceration of many loved ones, she understands firsthand the profound impact the carceral system has on families and communities. Over the years, Turquoise has developed a strong proficiency in navigating the carceral system, offering guidance and support to individuals and families during incarceration and throughout reentry. She is the founder of the Collective Healing Fellowship, a community-centered healing space designed to support justice-impacted individuals and families through holistic practices. Through yoga, meditation, and sacred movement, Turquoise creates pathways for restoration, self-connection, and empowerment—centering healing as a vital component of justice. Her work bridges advocacy and wellness, affirming that true liberation must include the healing of the mind, body, and spirit.
Tamara Santibañez is an interdisciplinary artist and memory worker living and working in Brooklyn. Their work focuses on the intersection of tattooing and the prison industrial complex, understanding the body as a site of archiving and resistance. They are author of Could This Be Magic? Tattooing as Liberation Work (Afterlife Press) and the poetry chapbook Memory Lane (2024). They received their BFA from Pratt Institute in Printmaking and MA in Oral History from Columbia University, awarded OHMA’s Future Voices Fellowship for 2021, and were a recipient of Duke University’s 2024 DocX Fellowship: Otherwise Histories, Otherwise Futures.
The New York Public Library welcomes your comments and invites you to participate in conversations on NYPL social media platforms.
To make the experience better for all of our social media followers, we ask that you keep your comments relevant to the original post. Off-topic comments may be removed to ensure that the conversation remains productive.
Contributors to the project explore how oral history can challenge dominant narratives and document the lived realities of incarceration. For event details and more, visit nypl.org/events/programs/2026/04/29/rikers-public-memory-project
LIVE FROM NYPL
Upcoming Events: nypl.org/live
Sign up for our newsletters: nypl.org/updates
Coinciding with the opening of the Rikers Public Memory Project oral history collection at the Library, this archive—consisting of ninety interviews conducted between 2018 and 2021—preserves and highlights the stories of those most impacted by Rikers Island, including formerly incarcerated individuals and their families. A panel bringing together voices behind the project discusses how these histories confront generational harms and challenge dehumanizing narratives—while also exploring how public memory can advance reparative justice.
Featuring:
Shana Russell, Historian and Teacher
Edwin Santana, Filmmaker and Photographer
Turquoise Martin, RPMP Narrator
Tamara Santibañez, Oral Historian and Interdisciplinary Artist
This program will open with a short presentation by Interim Charles J. Liebman Curator of Manuscripts Meredith Mann on the Library’s role in acquiring and preserving the collection.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Dr. Shana Russell is an educator, historian, and storyteller who is currently an assistant professor of literature at Bard High School Early College in Newark. She serves as the chief historian of the Rikers Public Memory Project. Dr. Russell has compiled over two centuries of history of Rikers Island and documented resistance to its horrors dating back to the 19th century. She is currently compiling this research into a book, which will be the first time this historical narrative will appear in print. She hopes her work will serve as a catalyst to the overdue closing of Torture Island and reparative justice for its survivors.
Edwin Santana is a Puerto Rican New Yorker, self-taught filmmaker/photographer, and formerly incarcerated individual, who has dedicated his life to social justice. He founded the company, TUFF ART MEDIA, and his advocacy work revolves around Closing Riker's and decarcerating NYC. He is also works as a community organizer at Freedom Agenda.
As a community advocate and native New Yorker, Turquoise J. Martin is deeply rooted in restorative justice reform, supporting initiatives such as Close Rikers, HALT Solitary, and the decriminalization of sex work. Her advocacy is both personal and purposeful, having experienced the incarceration of many loved ones, she understands firsthand the profound impact the carceral system has on families and communities. Over the years, Turquoise has developed a strong proficiency in navigating the carceral system, offering guidance and support to individuals and families during incarceration and throughout reentry. She is the founder of the Collective Healing Fellowship, a community-centered healing space designed to support justice-impacted individuals and families through holistic practices. Through yoga, meditation, and sacred movement, Turquoise creates pathways for restoration, self-connection, and empowerment—centering healing as a vital component of justice. Her work bridges advocacy and wellness, affirming that true liberation must include the healing of the mind, body, and spirit.
Tamara Santibañez is an interdisciplinary artist and memory worker living and working in Brooklyn. Their work focuses on the intersection of tattooing and the prison industrial complex, understanding the body as a site of archiving and resistance. They are author of Could This Be Magic? Tattooing as Liberation Work (Afterlife Press) and the poetry chapbook Memory Lane (2024). They received their BFA from Pratt Institute in Printmaking and MA in Oral History from Columbia University, awarded OHMA’s Future Voices Fellowship for 2021, and were a recipient of Duke University’s 2024 DocX Fellowship: Otherwise Histories, Otherwise Futures.
The New York Public Library welcomes your comments and invites you to participate in conversations on NYPL social media platforms.
To make the experience better for all of our social media followers, we ask that you keep your comments relevant to the original post. Off-topic comments may be removed to ensure that the conversation remains productive.
