Contraband #1 is a fabric-based piece comprised of used and new prison uniforms. Its flag-like composition serves to highlight the problematic and growing scale of the Prison Industrial Complex in the United States. Thomas notes the irony that in
“the land of the free,” the United States imprisons more individuals than anywhere else in the world.
In this new body of work, Thomas aims to critique a system that outwardly promotes rehabilitation and solutions to social problems, while contradictorily sustaining corporate interests and undermining the safety and needs of citizens.
