Elena is an incarcerated artist in Pennsylvania. Her work focuses on madness, systemic repression, and the promise of abolition. She works in tandem with PeoplesHub, Let’s Get Free, and various prison advocacy zines and newsletters. Elena is committed to drawing attention to the flaws of the prison-industrial complex and to the humanity of those held in state-sponsored captivity.

She is currently spending her time revising her third speculative fiction novel, writing creative nonfiction and flash fiction stories, earning her bachelor’s degree, painting trees and Ruddies, learning to play classical music, working in a machine shop, and running an exercise group. She occasionally sleeps. Her work can be found on PeoplesHub and Let's Get Free's websites, in Our Red Book, in The Movement magazine, on the podcast Self-Identities: Conversations with Convicted Women, and on her Instagram account @elenahousehay.

Check out Elena's recent art show at Red Emma's in Baltimore here.

Pictured: Self portrait by Elena House-Hay (2022), graphite & art marker on synthetic paper.

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