Kamisha Thomas

Woman wearing green & brown headband, red lipstick & pink sweater

Kamisha Thomas

OPEEP Consultant—The Returning Artists Guild

thereturningartistsguild@gmail.com

Born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Kamisha Thomas is a multidisciplinary artist. Her personal experiences have shaped her artistic vision, as she is a second generation survivor of the carceral system. After serving a seven and a half year sentence in prison, she co-founded the Returning Artists Guild (RAG) alongside Aimee Wissman. Her goal was to maintain the sense of community and camaraderie that she experienced while participating in and leading arts programming while incarcerated. Kamisha, a passionate advocate for prison abolition and artist advocacy, has previously been awarded the Art for Justice grant and the Right of Return grant. She is dedicated to amplifying the voices of marginalized individuals and communities. Her interests lie in works that encourage critical thinking and challenge established paradigms. With a deep passion for artistic expression and its therapeutic benefits, she has also dedicated herself to using art as a platform to dismantle the system that disproportionately abuses Black and Brown bodies.