Making art served many purposes. Mansoor Adayfi, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee and author of Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo, wrote in his contribution to the book on al-Alwi that initially, “we painted what we missed: the beautiful blue sky, the sea, stars. We painted our fear, hope and dreams.”

Human rights groups have accused U.S. authorities of using Guantánamo Bay for decades to detain migrants fleeing Haiti, Cuba and other Caribbean nations.