When Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and his wife MK visited Pope Leo XIV in Rome in mid-November, the first couple brought along some Illinois-themed “good tidings” for the Chicago-born pontiff.
There was an Abraham Lincoln biography and a four-pack of craft beer called “Da Pope” from a North Side brewery.
But there was also a piece of art made by Yesenia Diaz, a woman incarcerated in the Logan Correctional Center. The Pilsen native, who was convicted of murder, decided last summer to enter her artwork in a contest that MK Pritzker organized for people housed in Illinois prisons.
Diaz’s piece caught Pritzker’s eye — enough that the governor’s wife decided it was worthy to present to the pope, who since his May election as pontiff has prioritized the rights of prisoners. A snippet of video from the Pritzkers’ papal visit shows the first lady explaining how Diaz’s drawing represents the woman’s life behind bars.
Diaz, 38, first learned of the special recognition when she got a call from the warden’s office, telling her what had happened. Diaz said she felt proud and a little surprised.
“I was like, ‘Are you serious? Like, the pope in Rome?’” Diaz told WBEZ in an interview from the prison in downstate Lincoln. “My drawing is not that great. It’s not like I painted a great painting with oil paint.”
Drawing, Diaz said, is not one of her strong suits. She said she is more versed in crafts and likes using paper and paints, twigs and pine cones and other objects she finds around the prison’s garden.
But when MK Pritzker invited those incarcerated in state prisons to submit 2D drawings for an art contest, Diaz said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“It was just an honor … to do something positive,” she said. “To be part of the community outside, even from the inside.”
Diaz submitted a drawing of herself as a young girl, dancing in a garden with a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a butterfly resting on the other. Half of the drawing is in black and white, depicting a barbed wire fence and a prison tower. The other half is in color, showing sunshine and flowering bushes wrapping around a white picket fence.
Diaz called her piece “Praising My Way to Wholeness.”
“Before, even though I was alive, my spirit, my heart, my mind [were] kind of dead,” Diaz said. “By God’s healing, I got to see how beautiful life can be.”
She sketched a monarch butterfly facing toward the sun to represent freedom and explained her piece is all about changing her perspective while being incarcerated.
“I’m not focusing on the barbed wire; I’m seeing a picket fence,” Diaz said. “Even though I am in this place, I am free mentally, emotionally.”
The contest was dubbed “Art Is Healing,” and the top four winners had their artwork featured at the first lady’s Illinois State Fair tent this past summer.
In a statement, Pritzker said she chose Diaz’s drawing to present to the pope because it’s a “beautiful example of Illinois’ efforts to treat all humans with the dignity and respect they deserve.”
“My husband and I are longtime advocates and supporters of programs and policies for incarcerated people,” Pritzker said. “Incarcerated people deserve access to the necessary tools to prepare for a successful reentry into their communities.”
Diaz considers herself a devout Christian and said her faith in God’s mercy has played a big role in helping her cope with life behind bars. She said her past is marked by “brokenness and moments of darkness.”
Diaz was 17 years old when she strangled her 3-year-old brother to death because he wouldn’t stop screaming and crying. She was found guilty of murder at 20 years old and is currently serving a 33-year sentence. Diaz is expected to be released in 2041.
Living with that moment in her life hasn’t been easy, and Diaz said she’d rather not dwell on her life before incarceration.
But one thing she has held onto from her younger years is making art.
Since she was the oldest sibling, Diaz would make clothes and furniture out of scrap pieces of wood and glue for her little sisters’ dolls.
“God has blessed me with a gift of art,” Diaz said. “I’m not good with sports, so there it is; God had to give me something.”
Whether that’s tending to the garden, making gifts for prison volunteers or decorating the unit for the holidays, Diaz said art has given her a positive and meaningful outlet in a place that she said can be shrouded in “negativity.”
“Even in this place, I’m still alive, and I still [have] opportunities to do things better,” she said. “That brings me healing to my heart.”
Diaz hopes to open up a gift shop selling her trinkets and crafts when she gets out of prison. She’s still toying with the name, but her friend has suggested calling it “Following the Stars.”
“It might be something simple, but it always brings smiles to other people,” Diaz said of her artwork. “That’s kind of my reward. And I feel like by seeing other ones being blessed by my gift, I get blessed too.”
Diaz was not at the Vatican to see how the pope reacted to her drawing. But in an exchange captured by Catholic broadcaster EWTN News, the pontiff seemed to understand the message Diaz was trying to convey. He told MK Pritzker the drawing’s concept was about “finding God.”
Many of Diaz’s friends and family are Catholic and said they were amazed her artwork made it all the way to the Vatican.
“They told me what a great privilege it was — even though I was in prison — that my drawing was picked for the pope,” Diaz said. “That was a great blessing.”