About

My entire life, I’ve been a musician, but I’ve always wanted to be an artist. Before going to prison, I never felt comfortable enough to pursue any sort of endeavor in art. The only time I would attempt any art happened late at night, following a bout of heavy drinking. 

In 2010, I was sentenced to fifty years in prison for the death of a man that I caused by drinking and driving. Since music was not an option for the first three years of my incarceration, I decided to finally pursue painting. After some experimentation, I managed to find a style and voice inside myself and dove in completely. Just as with my musical upbringing, I am self-taught.

I have recently been released after having been incarcerated for more than twelve years and continue to make art in many different media. I have spent countless days working on paintings and other projects for charitable causes such as the Justice Arts Coalition, Special Olympics, Employment for the Disabled, the Messages Project, The Outsiders House Renovation, National Legal Aid and Defense, and many other nonprofits to raise operating funds.
 

— WB Livingston, Oklahoma
 

William B. Livingston III has been featured in the Guardian UK, The Washington Post Magazine and has had paintings displayed in the MoMA PS1 gallery in New York, Brown University, The University of Alabama, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

He has all been published by or worked with the following organizations:

Justice Arts Coalition

Marking Time

For Everyone Co.

Brick of Gold Publishing

City Winery NYC & Nashville

Pen America

Prison Journalism Project

Jail Guitar Doors

Amplify Music

White Snake Project

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

National Legal Aid & Defense Assoc.

Narrow Arts Center