For A Magazine Curated By Willy Chavarria, Stephan Ruiz photographed Still Standing , a portrait series of people who have been through the U.S. criminal justice’system. Inspired by his seven years teaching drawing and painting at San Quentin State Prison.
‘I wasn’t an inmate, and I wasn’t a guard. So I was kind of this other thing, and my class was a safe space. People could come in and relax, paint, draw, talk, or look at art books or whatever. It was a good thing. And I’m sure I learned way more from the inmates than they ever learned from me.’ - Stefan Ruiz
