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Cincinnati, OH (WLWT) — Art is Tyra Patterson’s passion and her therapy.
For the 23 years she spent in prison, art was her only escape.
“I’m very passionate about intersecting social justice and art because it has a way to speak to the world,” she said.
Patterson’s story has gained national attention after she was freed from prison after serving more than two decades for a crime she did not commit.
In 1994, 15-year-old Michelle Lai was killed in the Dayton area during a robbery. Patterson and two others were charged.
“I wasn’t educated at all. I didn’t know my rights. I didn’t know anything about the judicial system,” Patterson said.
Patterson was convicted. Years later, the victim’s sister, a key witness, confirmed Patterson was innocent.
After help from the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, she was released from prison Christmas Day 2017. The center hired her as a paralegal one week after she was released.
“A lot of people say, ‘Tyra, you lived more than half your life in prison. Why don’t you move on and do something else with your time?’ And I say, ‘I can’t. Somebody did it for me, and I have to do it for others.'”
Patterson never learned to read or write. She dropped out of elementary school as a child.
“I was only 11 years old when I dropped out of school. Me and my family experienced chronic homelessness, so education had to take a back seat to my survival,” she said.
She got educated in prison and was able to receive her GED and take specialized classes.
Last weekend, Patterson was the commencement speaker for the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
“What could I say to such brilliant students, especially college graduates?” she said. “Here I am an elementary drop out.”
“Be kind, because kindness will open doors that education won’t,” she told the graduates during part of her speech. After, she was surprised with the school’s 2020 Creative Perseverance award and an honorary Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
“You know if I can do it, anyone can… It gave me a lot of hope,” she said through tears. “It felt so liberating to be so accepted.”
A Netflix documentary about Patterson’s life is set to be released in the summer of 2021.
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