After spending close to two decades behind bars, Detroit artist Cozine Welch is now being recognized for imagining a radically different future — one without prisons or policing as we know it.
Welch is the latest recipient of the Detroit Justice Center’s artist residency, a program that challenges creatives to answer a provocative question: What does a world without incarceration look like?
The residency began in 2020, during the wave of protests following the murder of George Floyd, the organization saw a surge of individual donations. The organization sought new ways to engage the public with those donations, beyond traditional legal advocacy.
“We could do something more interesting. … Just give that to an artist to make work kind of about the present moment, thinking about what a world without policing and incarceration looks like,” said Casey Rocheteau, the center’s communications director.
Since then, the program has funded a wide range of projects, from installations to essays, all centered on abolitionist ideas.
Rocheteau said art plays a unique role in conversations about justice reform.
“One of the things that art is able to do that we can’t do through infographics and social media … we aren’t able to capture people’s imaginations in the same way,” Rocheteau said. “I don’t think I could create a press statement that’s going to be quite as evocative as … experiencing a full vision that an artist has created.”
Out of 20 applicants, Welch stood out for the justice center.
Panelists were drawn to the honesty and realism of his proposal, a vision that doesn’t promise perfection, but instead grapples with the lingering trauma of incarceration.
“There was something about his application that felt really genuine,” Rocheteau said. “It’s not just utopian. … It’s very realistic.”
Welch’s project, titled No More Heroes, will take the form of a musical play. Not only does it align with his artistic discipline, but it’s a deliberate choice rooted in the emotional power of performance.
“I want to make things that stick with people when they are away from my presence,” Welch said. “I don’t expect someone to reenact my stage performance … but I do hope they’ll remember the song we sang that told them how to interact.”
For Welch, the project is deeply personal.
He was sentenced at 17 and spent about 20 years incarcerated for second-degree murder.
“By the time I had come home, I spent more time alive in prison than I was alive outside of it,” Welch said.
Even after his release, the effects of incarceration followed him.
Just weeks ago, Welch said, he was unhoused and struggling to find employment despite an extensive resume that includes teaching and program leadership roles.
“That felony is the only thing that people read,” he said.
His experience shapes the core message of his work, that a world without prisons doesn’t mean a world without struggle.
“It asked me to be real … to accept the reality and possibility that it could be and still not be perfect,” Welch said. “But the perfection is the existence and the balance towards healing.”
With a $20,000 award, Welch has until March 2027 to bring No More Heroes to life. He plans to use the funding not only for production, but also to support himself and collaborators.
“It’s going to allow me to pay a couple months of rent … so I can actually focus on putting this thing together without the worry of being evicted,” he said.
More than a performance, Welch hopes the project becomes a community effort.
“My plan is to make it as communally involved as possible,” he said. “No one person can commune alone.”
For the Detroit Justice Center, that kind of impact is exactly the goal.
Rocheteau says they hope audiences walk away not only with a deeper understanding of abolition, but also with empathy for people who have lived through incarceration.
“I hope people walk away with a better understanding of what abolition could look like,” Rocheteau said, “but also … a new sense of empathy for people who have lived experience.”
For Welch, the residency represents more than recognition, it’s a chance to build the future he’s imagining, one audience at a time.
